Quiet American is an oxymoron for most people, at least those outside the United States. The British writer Graham Greene used the phrase as the title of his 1955 novel, describing a soft-spoken and well-meaning CIA agent who nevertheless causes havoc abroad. In my native Canada, our reserved self-image has no greater or more pleasing foil than our southern neighbor. Fairly or not, complaining about brash Americans is a national pastime.
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