The Triumph: A Novel of Modern Diplomacy

by John Kenneth Galbraith

This is a topical fiction work by the prolific and influential economist. It is a novel about diplomacy, taking place both in the United States and a mythical Latin American nation that suffers from the same instability that many such nations in the region experienced during the postwar period.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Economics

249 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

John Kenneth Galbraith was a Canadian-American economist. He was a Keynesian and an institutionalist, a leading proponent of 20th-century American liberalism and democratic socialism. His books on economic topics were bestsellers in the 1950s and 1960s. A prolific author, he produced four dozen books & over a 1000 articles on many subjects. Among his most famous works was his economics trilogy: American Capitalism (1952), The Affluent Society (1958) & The New Industrial State (1967). He taught at Harvard University for many years. He was active in politics, serving in the administrations of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson. He served as US Ambassador to India under John F. Kennedy.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice: one in 1946 from President Truman, and another in 2000 from President Clinton. He was also awarded the Order of Canada in 1997, and in 2001, the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, for strengthening ties between India and the USA.

Reviews

[Theresa Kulenkamp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extensive excerpts of this novel were published in the Saturday Evening Post (April 20, 1968). This satirical view of 20th century U.S. foreign policy in Latin America is too predictable to be enjoyable. Obviously written by an insider (author was U.S. Ambassador to India in the Kennedy administration) as he uses all the correct terms for State Department and DOD personnel and programs. Author much stronger in his non-fiction works (mostly about economics).

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Galbraith was a great writer of non-fiction and was quite entertaining as a teacher of political economy, he, like Bertrand Russell, is a very poor writer of fiction. This novel is sophomoric and predictable. Galbraith's heart was in the right place, but he should have simply written another critique of US foreign policy practices.

[Pamela Snyder · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little hard to get into. The author likes to give more background/historical/scene/information, rather than just tell a good story. It also reminds me how bureaucratic the 60's were (all men made the decisions and they weren't necessarily good or bad, they just too forever) and how frustrating politics & government can be.

[JohnM Koroly]

Wickedly funny black comedy about American foreign policy, Latin American politics, and human foibles. A bit too wordy at times, but Galbraith is a natural storyteller and always makes the jargon and nuance of politics serve the theme and narrative. Rather a jolting final sentence that dilutes some of the fun that had gone before, but realistic, though.

[Carly Svamvour]

This is one from our personal collection - I'm in the process of 'cataloguing' my books, in order of author's last name.

Obsessive! Heh! Heh!