Book · 2004 · Fiction
The Quiet American
- mentions
- 3
- people
- 3
- podcasts
- 3
- episodes
- 3
- recommendation
- 1
And the final one in a similar vein is uh Graham Greene's book The Quiet American. Uh I think that one of the one of sometimes novels do it better than than anything else. It's a novel set in Vietnam through the eyes of a sour, dyspeptic, world-weary British journalist who sees this very idealistic American who believes that America.
Fareed Zakaria · The Ezra Klein Show · Apr 2026 Listen at 1:08:01 The best things said about it
It's like, you know, if you've read the quiet American read, it was it was that attitude toward.
Matt Taibbi The Tucker Carlson Show · Jun 2024 Your title is obviously a reference to the Graham green novel why the quiet Americans.
Where and when it comes up
Most mentions, by podcast
Why people recommend it
The Quiet American by Graham Greene is a brilliant political novel set in Vietnam that examines the tragic consequences of misguided Western idealism and foreign intervention through the eyes of a cynical, world-weary British journalist. On The Ezra Klein Show, Fareed Zakaria recommended the novel as his final book suggestion, praising the author's ability to capture complex geopolitical dynamics through narrative fiction far better than standard nonfiction often manages. On The Book Review podcast, host Gilbert Cruz noted that author Scott Anderson intentionally used a title that serves as a direct literary reference to Greene's famous work when discussing early C.I.A. operatives during the Cold War. Additionally, on The Tucker Carlson Show, Matt Taibbi invoked the themes of Greene's novel to critique modern Western perceptions of foreign nations, specifically drawing parallels to illustrate how arrogant outsiders frequently dismiss complex foreign territories as mere third-world backwaters. Through these varied discussions, commentators repeatedly turned to Greene's classic text as an enduring cautionary tale about the perils of arrogant foreign policy, naive interventionism, and the tragic friction between detached idealism and messy local realities.
Every mention
Fareed Zakaria And the final one in a similar vein is uh Graham Greene's book The Quiet American. Uh I think that one of t… 1
“And the final one in a similar vein is uh Graham Greene's book The Quiet American. Uh I think that one of the one of sometimes novels do it better than than anything else. It's a novel set in Vietnam through the eyes of a sour, dyspeptic, world-weary British journalist who sees this very idealistic American who believes that America”
Gilbert Cruz your title is obviously a reference to the Graham green novel why the quiet Americans 1
“your title is obviously a reference to the Graham green novel why the quiet Americans”
Matt Taibbi It's like, you know, if you've read the quiet American read, it was it was that attitude toward. 1
“It's like, you know, if you've read the quiet American read, it was it was that attitude toward.”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“But for the most part, you know, people came in, and they just treated it as a, you know, as a third world backwater.It's like, you know, if you've read The Quiet American, it was that attitude toward...”