The Ugly American

The multi-million-copy bestseller that blends truth and fiction in a devastating indictment of American policy (New York Times Book Review). A piercing expos of American incompetence and corruption in Southeast Asia, The Ugly American captivated the nation when it was first published in 1958. The book introduces readers to an unlikely hero in the titular ugly Americanand to the ignorant politicians and arrogant ambassadors who ignore his empathetic and commonsense advice. In linked stories and vignettes set in the fictional nation of Sarkhan, William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick draw an incisive portrait of American foreign policy gone dangerously wrongand how it might be fixed. Eerily relevant sixty years after its initial publication, The Ugly American reminds us that today, as the battle for hearts and minds has shifted to the Middle East, we still cant speak Sarkhanese (New York Times).