The Quiet American

The Quiet American

With a new introduction by Zadie Smith

Into the intrigue and violence of Indo-China comes Pyle, a young idealistic American sent to promote democracy through a mysterious “Third Force.” As his naïve optimism starts to cause bloodshed, his friend Fowler, a cynical foreign correspondent, finds it hard to stand aside and watch. But even as he intervenes he wonders why: for the sake of politics, or for love?

Review

"A master of storytelling" (The Times)

"One of the finest writers of any language" (Washington Post)

"A superb storyteller - he had a talent for depicting local colour, a keen sense of the dramatic, an eye for dialogue, and skill in pacing his prose" (New York Times)

"There has been no novel of any political scope about Vietnam since Graham Greene wrote The Quiet American" (Harper's)

"It might be nearly 60 years since The Quiet American was first published, but it still evokes the exotic promise of the Orient, and the troubled relationship Vietnam has with the West" (Wanderlust)