A Dangerous Friend: A Novel

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Synopsis
Well-meaning American civilians make an attempt at nation-building during the Vietnam War, in this &“powerful&” novel by a National Book Award finalist (Newsweek). Named one of the Best Books of the Year by Time and the Los Angeles Times In this &“extraordinary,&” beautifully constructed large-canvas novel of Saigon in 1965, Ward Just takes a penetrating look into America&’s role in the world (The New York Times). Sydney Parade, a political scientist, has left his home and family in an effort to become part of something larger than himself, a foreign aid operation in the South Vietnamese capital. Even before he arrives, he encounters French and Americans who reveal to him the unsettling depths of a conflict he thought he understood—and in Saigon, the Vietnamese add yet another dimension. Before long, the rampant missteps and misplaced ideals trap Parade and others in a moral crossfire. &“Emotionally wrenching and always beautifully observant,&” this is a story of conscience and its consequences among those for whom Vietnam was neither the right fight nor the wrong fight but the only fight (Entertainment Weekly). The exotic tropical surroundings, coarsening and corrupting effects of a colonial regime, and visionary delusions of the American democratizers all play their part. &“A literary triumph that transcends its war story&” and a New York Times Notable Book, A Dangerous Friend can be justly compared to Joseph Conrad&’s Nostromo or Graham Greene&’s The Quiet American—a thrilling narrative roiling with intrigue, mayhem, and betrayal (San Francisco Chronicle). &“Makes you want to run screaming into the street to protest retrospectively the war he has so movingly recreated.&” —The New York Times
Copyright:
1999

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:
9780547561424
Related ISBNs:
9780618056705
Publisher:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
status in your country.
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Military, Literature and Fiction, Mystery and Thrillers, Politics and Government
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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