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Shareby Michael Meyer
New York Times (10 July 2009)
“In the annals of misunderstood titles, a special place belongs to William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick’s novel The Ugly American. Today, the phrase is shorthand for our compatriots who wear tube tops to the Vatican or shout for Big Macs in Beijing. But as summer vacation season begins (at least for those who can still afford it), it’s worth recalling that the impolitic travelers in The Ugly American aren’t drunken backpackers or seniors sporting black socks, but the so-called educated elite of the diplomatic corps, whose insensitivity to local language and customs prompts observations like this…”
