The Quiet American (2002)

By Cynthia Fuchs

That the U.S. imagines itself in the position to take unilateral decisions that affect the rest of the world is as much a function of the nation's founding myths (all that 'city on a hill' business, represented in Pyle's notion that he can save Phuong) as it is its economic might (Pyle's knowledge that he can support Phuong). [13 February 2003]