These mistakes were not made by America's enemy. The Vietnamese studied their adversary. They cultivated an agent who could think like an American, who could get inside the American mind to learn the country's values and beliefs. The Vietnamese needed someone, as An would say of himself, who had grafted an American brain onto his Asian body. They needed a spy in the enemy camp, although not a common, second-story man. They needed a strategic spy, a poetic spy, a spy who loved Americans and whom the Americans loved in return. After gaining their confidence, he would pick the lock most prized in military strategy—the lock to their dreams and ambitions, their myths about themselves, and their role in the world.

For this assignment, the Vietnamese put their faith in one man, who would become their most important spy and one of their greatest military weapons. As a lesson in warfare and as a way to understand the Vietnamese, there is no better lens than the life of Pham Xuan An.

—from The Spy Who Loved Us