Graham Greene's classic exploration of love, innocence, and morality
in Vietnam
"I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he
caused," Graham Greene's narrator Fowler remarks of Alden Pyle, the
eponymous "Quiet American" of what is perhaps the most controversial
novel of his career. Pyle is the brash young idealist sent out by
Washington on a mysterious mission to Saigon, where the French Army
struggles against the Vietminh guerrillas.
As young Pyle's well-intentioned policies blunder into bloodshed,
Fowler, a seasoned and cynical British reporter, finds it impossible to
stand safely aside as an observer. But Fowler's motives for intervening
are suspect, both to the police and himself, for Pyle has stolen
Fowler's beautiful Vietnamese mistress.
Originally published in 1956 and twice adapted to film, The Quiet
American remains a terrifiying and prescient portrait of innocence at
large. This Graham Greene Centennial Edition includes a new introductory
essay by Robert Stone.
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