History Literature / TheUglyAmerican

''The Ugly American'' is a political novel written by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer in 1958. The book narrates the life of various fictitious political figures and their lives within the fictional Asian country of Sarkhan. Adapted into a film starring Creator/MarlonBrando.

* AssInAmbassador: Lou Sears, US Ambassador to Sarkhan. He makes no effort to learn the Sarkhanese language, shuts off himself and his office from local society, insists on entertaining only the expatriate crowd, and prefers to live comfortably like an officer in a colonial regime. In all fairness to Sears, he wasn't qualified for the job; he was appointed ambassador because wanted to be a Federal judge, but there was a two-year waiting period for there to be a vacancy so he was appointed ambassador to kill time until that vacancy opened.

* AssInAmbassador: Lou Sears, US Ambassador to Sarkhan. He makes no effort to learn the Sarkhanese language, shuts off himself and his office from local society, insists on entertaining only the expatriate crowd, and prefers to live comfortably like an officer in a colonial regime.
** In all fairness to Sears, he wasn't qualified for the job; he was appointed ambassador because wanted to be a Federal judge, but there was a two-year waiting period for there to be a vacancy so he was appointed ambassador to kill time until that vacancy opened.

* GoingNative: Generally, the Soviets are seen as better at adjusting to local cultures than the aloof, brash, and fairly xenophobic Americans; this goes some way to explaining why the Communists are having better success at attracting the populace of Sarkhan and neighbouring states.

* RedScare

* DaEditor: The sharp-spoken MixedRace Ruth Jyoti of the ''Setkya Daily Herald''. She holds no punches when pointing out the severe insensitivity, arrogance, and incompetence of many high-and-mighty American officials in Southeast Asia.

* MixedRace: Eurasian (half-white, half-Cambodian) Ruth Jyoti, editor of the ''Setkya Daily Herald''.

* {{Expy}}: These exist of several real people since the novel satirises American foreign policy in Cold War Southeast Asia.
** NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Colonel [[PunnyName Hillandale]], for one, is almost transparently based on real-life CIA officer Col. Edward Lansdale, especially since Hillandale in the novel is explicitly described as the CIA man who engineered Magsaysay's defeat of the Huk rebellion and his election as President (the position which Lansdale served in RealLife).
** NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: On a country-wide scale, Sarkhan itself; culturally it most closely resembles Burma or Thailand, but geopolitically it was intended to be a stand-in for Vietnam.

* HolidayInCambodia: Sarkhan, but also in the actual Cambodia, Vietnam, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

** On a country-wide scale, Sarkhan itself; culturally it most closely resembles Burma or Thailand, but geopolitically it was intended to be a stand-in for Vietnam.

* WarIsHell: In the Vietnam chapters, after the fall of Dien Bien Phu, a French Foreign Legion unit attempts to take on the Communists outside of Hanoi. The casualties portrayed on their side are horrific, with two Legionnaires (a black American and an anti-Communist Vietnamese) respectively receiving graphic mutilations—the former's left eye gouged out, the latter's vocal cords severed.

* DuringTheWar: Much of Southeast Asia is a hotly-contested battleground for the ongoing UsefulNotes/ColdWar. In one chapter set in Vietnam, the "First Vietnam War"—i.e., the Vietnamese war for independence from their French colonisers—is ongoing, and the novel covers the fall of Dien Bien Phu.

* BilingualBackfire: American diplomats hire natives of the fictional war-torn Southeast Asian country to work as servants in their embassy. A visiting Chinese diplomat discovers and explains that at least some of the servants are spies pretending not to understand English; Sears' replacement, U.S. Ambassador Gilbert [=MacWhite=], finds this out the hard way.

* {{Expy}}: These exist of several real people since the novel satirises American foreign policy in Cold War Southeast Asia. Colonel [[PunnyName Hillandale]], for one, is purportedly based on real-life CIA officer Col. Edward Lansdale.

* BilingualBackfire: American diplomats hire natives of the fictional war-torn Southeast Asian country to work as servants in their embassy. A visiting Chinese diplomat discovers and explains that at least some of the servants are spies pretending not to understand English.

* DaEditor: The sharp-spoken MixedRace Ruth Jyoti of the ''Setkya Daily Herald''. She holds no punches when pointing out the severe insensitivity and incompetence of many high-and-mighty American officials in Southeast Asia.

* LaResistance: The Communist rebels in Sarkhan (including Deong) and elsewhere across Southeast Asia.

* LaResistance: The Communist rebels in Sarkhan and elsewhere across Southeast Asia.

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Accused of American John Colvin, with milk. He tries setting up a facility to process and distribute powdered milk for the benefit of Sarkhanese locals, but because his former friend Deong has become a Communist, Deong forces him to add a powerful emetic into the milk, since it's Deong's belief that the Americans can't be entrusted with development projects in Sarkhan, thus appearing to be the locals' saviours. When John can't agree with this, Deong is forced to accuse him of adulterating the milk with aphrodisiacs to take advantage of local women (who savagely beat up Colvin's ass in short order). Worth noting that Deong learned about the use of the emetic ipecac from John during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, when they help sabotage the Japanese army's food with it.

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Accused of American John Colvin, with milk. He tries setting up a facility to process and distribute powdered milk for the benefit of Sarkhanese locals, but because his former friend Deong has become a Communist, Deong forces him to add a powerful emetic into the milk, since it's Deong's belief that the Americans can't be entrusted with development projects in Sarkhan, thus appearing to be the locals' saviours. When John can't agree with this, Deong is forced to accuse him of adulterating the milk with aphrodisiacs to take advantage of local women. Worth noting that Deong learned about the use of the emetic ipecac from John during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, when they help sabotage the Japanese army's food with it.

* BadassPreacher: Anti-Communist Catholic Jesuit priest Father Finian. Might also qualify for EvilJesuit especially from the Communists' point of view.

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Accused of American John Colvin, with milk. He tries setting up a facility to process and distribute powdered milk for the benefit of Sarkhanese locals, but because his former friend Deong has become a Communist, Deong forces him to add a powerful emetic into the milk, since it's Deong's belief that the Americans can't be entrusted with development projects in Sarkhan, thus appearing to be their saviours. When John can't agree with this, Deong is forced to accuse him of adulterating the milk with aphrodisiacs to take advantage of local women. Worth noting that Deong learned about the use of the emetic ipecac from John during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, when they help sabotage the Japanese army's food with it.

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Accused of American John Colvin, with milk. He tries setting up a facility to process and distribute powdered milk for the benefit of Sarkhanese locals, but is later betrayed by his former friend Deong—who accuses him of adulterating the milk with aphrodisiacs to take advantage of local women.

* BadassPreacher: Anti-Communist Jesuit priest Father Finian. Might also qualify for EvilJesuit especially from the Communists' point of view.