Ugly AmericanThe multi-million-copy bestseller that coined the phrase for tragic American blunders abroad. In the episode that lends the book its title, the "ugly American" is Homer Atkins, a plain and plain-spoken man, who has been sent by the U.S. government to advise the Southeast Asian country of Sarkhan on engineering projects. When Atkins finds badly misplaced priorities and bluntly challenges the entrenched interests, he lays bare a foreign policy gone dangerously wrong. First published in 1958, The Ugly American became a runaway national bestseller for its slashing exposé of American arrogance, incompetence, and corruption in Southeast Asia. In linked stories and vignettes, the book uses gripping storytelling to draw a devastating picture of how the United States was losing the struggle with Communism in Asia. |
Contents
Lucky Lucky Lou 1 | 11 |
Lucky Lucky Lou 2 | 33 |
Nine Friends | 43 |
Everybody Loves Joe Bing | 66 |
Confidential and Personal | 74 |
Employment Opportunities Abroad | 77 |
The Girl Who Got Recruited | 83 |
The Ambassador and the Working Press | 87 |
What Would You Do If You Were President? | 144 |
How to Buy an American Junior Grade | 155 |
The SixFoot Swami from Savannah | 174 |
Captain Boning USN | 191 |
The Ugly American | 205 |
The Ugly American and the Ugly Sarkhanese | 214 |
The Bent Backs of Chang Dong | 232 |
Senator Sir | 239 |
Everyone Has Ears | 93 |
The Ragtime Kid | 110 |
The Iron of War | 115 |
The Lessons of War | 132 |
The Sum of Tiny Things | 264 |
A Factual Epilogue | 271 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Ambassador MacWhite Ambassador Sears American answer Asch Asia Asian asked Atkins Barre bassador began bicycle Burma Burmese Cambodian Captain Boning Chang Dong chicken Chinese Colonel Hillandale Colvin Communists damn Deong Dien Bien Phu dinner diplomats Doctor Tsung Donald Embassy Emma Emma Atkins EUGENE BURDICK eyes face Father Finian felt fighting foreign French gentlemen George Swift Haidho hand Hanoi headman hell Homer Indonesia Jeepo Joe Bing John Colvin knew Krupitzyn later Legionnaires looked Major Cravath military minutes Monet native never nodded officer palmistry party Phnom Penh political Prime Minister Prince Moyang Prince Ngong pump quietly Ragtime Kid rice road Russian Saigon Sarkhan Sarkhanese Senator Brown Setkya smiled sour-mash speak spoke stood story sure talk tell things Tien tiny told trip turned ugly Ugly American Vietnamese village voice walked weeks Wolchek