Graham Greene,
The Quiet American.
Vintage, 1955
ISBN: 0 099 45005 4

Set in the 1950s during the Vietnam conflict, Thomas Fowler is a cynical English foreign correspondent living with the beautiful, innocent Phuong. Fowler is entranced by the country and its people. He takes neither side in the war and detests ideology. Alden Pyle is a young, idealistic American who befriends Fowler. The 'quiet American' is there to promote democracy through building a mysterious 'third force' between communism and French colonialism. But then Pyle falls in love with Phuong, and wins her away with the promise of marriage and life in the USA. However when Pyle's naïve optimism starts to cause bloodshed and Fowler discovers his secret undercover work, he finds it hard to stand aside and watch. He intervenes with tragic consequences--but is it for the sake of politics or love? Although Greene was writing about the early 1950s when France alone was fighting the war, The Quiet American came to be seen as a prophecy of the United States involvement later on.

RA 14+/IL14+
Reviewed by Deborah Hallford
Spring 2003