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Reader recommendation: The Quiet American

Monitor readers share their favorite book picks.

The Quiet American, by Graham Greene, is an absolute masterpiece! It is a slim book, but I read it quite slowly, to savor Greene鈥檚 elegant, precise prose. This book is also a thriller, beginning with a murder. But perhaps it is better known as a devastating critique of colonialism and foreign intervention. It is set in Vietnam, a decade before American troops arrived. But you could replace 鈥淪aigon鈥 with 鈥淏aghdad鈥 or 鈥淒amascus,鈥 and with very little difference be persuaded by Greene鈥檚 cynicism about oversimplification of complex conflicts.

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