Editing William Lederer (section)

===Writing career===
Lederer's best-selling work, 1958's ''[[The Ugly American]]'', was one of two novels he co-wrote with [[Eugene Burdick]], a former U.S. Navy [[Lieutenant commander (United States)|lieutenant commander]] and [[Oxford University|Oxford]] don. Disillusioned with the [[United States]]'s diplomatic efforts in [[Southeast Asia]], Lederer and Burdick sought to demonstrate that American officials and civilians could make a substantial difference in Southeast Asian politics if they were willing to learn local languages, follow local customs, and use regional military tactics. They were concerned that if American policy makers continued to ignore the logic behind these lessons, Southeast Asia would fall under [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] or [[Chinese Communist]] influence. In the book's epilogue, they argue for the creation of "a small force of well-trained, well-chosen, hard-working and dedicated professionals" fluent in the local language, which presaged the [[Peace Corps]], which [[John F. Kennedy]] proposed in 1960.<ref>{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Meyer |title=Still 'Ugly' After All These Years |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/books/review/Meyer-t.html |work=The New York Times |date=July 10, 2009 |access-date=January 11, 2017}}</ref>

In ''A Nation of Sheep'' (1961), Lederer identifies intelligence failures in [[Asia]]. In "Government by Misinformation," he investigates the sources that he believes lead to American foreign policy, namely trusted local officials; local (foreign) newspapers, magazines, books, radio broadcasts, etc.; paid local informers; personal observations by U.S. officials; and American journalists.

In ''Our Own Worst Enemy'' (1968), Lederer relates that as a young U.S. Navy [[lieutenant (junior grade)]] in 1940, he had a chance meeting with a [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] priest, Father Pierre Cogny, and his Vietnamese assistant, "Mr. Nguyen," while he was waiting out a Japanese bombing raid in China. Father Pierre asked Lederer if he had a copy of the [[United States Declaration of Independence]] on his [[gunboat]], and Lederer said that he did and provided them with a copy. "Mr. Nguyen" was eager to deliver the document to "Tong Van So," who later became known as [[Ho Chi Minh]], the Vietnamese Communist revolutionary and statesman. The 1945 [[Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam]], written by Ho, begins by quoting from the American document. Ho went on to serve as prime minister (1946–1955) and president (1945–1969) of the [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] (i.e., North Vietnam).<ref>{{cite web |first=Paul |last=Halsall |title=Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, 1945 |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1945vietnam.html |work=Modern History Sourcebook |publisher=[[Fordham University]] |date=August 1977 |access-date=January 11, 2017}}</ref> ''Our Own Worst Enemy'' describes how the United States supported a corrupt President [[Ngo Diem]] in [[South Vietnam]], ignored massive black market selling of stolen U.S. military supplies, food, and foreign aid, and refused to stand up to corrupt local officials who stole donated food and supplies, took kickbacks, and bullied their own population, as Americans continued saying, "It's their country, and we Americans are only guests here."

Other Lederer works were intended to be light-hearted and humorous fantasies. His early works, ''All the Ships at Sea'' (1950) and ''[[Ensign O'Toole and Me]]'' (1957) are both. A children's book, ''Timothy's Song'', with illustrations by [[Edward Ardizzone]], appeared in 1965.