The Ugly American

My most recent readings I read about Macwhite again. But this time he is fighting communists in Vietnam. The western style of fighting wasn't working, and someone suggested reading Mao Tse-Tung's writing on war. He read it and realized that he must destroy the central base to beat the Communists. He and his men destroyed one base in Vietnam. Later an American General got extremely mad at him for doing that and didn't listen to Macwhite's suggestions and continued with the western warfare then had to surrender.

I thought that these chapters were quite ironic because the western people were sure that their tactics were the best. Mao wanted the Americans to think that, so that they would fall right into his traps. It also taught me a lesson which was, learn about your enemy before trying to fight it. At the very end of the chapter it re-introduced a man who was framed for a really bad crime by the Communists earlier in the book. He was framed because he was an American man who was trying to start a dairy industry in Sarkhan, and I am excited to read about what happens to him next.