The Deceptive American

Many tens of thousands of copies of Sarkhan were in the bookstores on publication day. Suddenly it seemed to vanish. Mr. Lederer and the late Mr. Burdick were convinced that the book had been suppressed by agencies of the government and certainly it contains much that might make such agencies unhappy. In a highly dramatic narrative it tells of blundering by our intelligence community in Southeast Asia of error and incompetenceas well as heroics by Americans who understood Asia. Today brought back to life after twelve years in limbo ironically retitled The Deceptive American and given a new explanatory introduction it is still relevant. The prescience of its message has been proved by events. The drama of its people and the drive of its narrative are undiminished.