The Miracles of Realism

HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM � There�s an exchange in �The Quiet American,� Graham Greene�s novel about the damage American good intentions can cause, that I�ve thought about a lot. It involves Thomas Fowler, the world-weary journalist-narrator of the book, confronting Alden Pyle, an American aid worker with a blinding zeal to stop Communism.

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Earl Wilson/The New York Times

Roger Cohen

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