Pictured here is a vintage movie tie-in edition of the book that inspired the 1963 political thriller THE UGLY AMERICAN starring Marlon Brando.

An intelligent, articulate scholar, Harrison MacWhite, survives a hostile Senate confirmation hearing at the hands of conservatives to become ambassador to Sarkan, a southeast Asian country where civil war threatens a tense peace. Despite his knowledge, once he’s there, MacWhite sees only a dichotomy between the U.S. and Communism. He can’t accept that anti-American sentiment might be a longing for self-determination and nationalism. So, he breaks from his friend Deong, a local opposition leader, ignores a foreman’s advice about slowing the building of a road, and tries to muscle ahead.

This is a later printing of the CREST edition, published in the summer of 1963 by Fawcett World Library, with illustrated wraps, sprayed red edges, the 50 cents price on the front wrap, and some hyperbolic marketing copy on the rear wrap. Very Good in Very Good wraps, in a polypropylene bag.