On the Road Again – The Resurgence of the Ugly American

Reading William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick’s The Ugly American was a depressing experience. I mentally told myself that I did not want to be that sort of person. I feel I have comported myself well when I have traveled. I certainly hope so.

For those of you who have not read The Ugly American, Goodreads summary reads, “The Ugly American is a 1958 political novel by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer that depicts the failures of the U.S. diplomatic corps in Southeast Asia.” While it focuses on the diplomatic corps and Southeast Asia, the ugly American, in my mind, came to mean any American who behaves poorly when traveling out of the United States.