Fire in the Lake

She explored thousands of years of the history and culture of Vietnam, showing how these affected the relations of its peoples with their encounter with the United States.

She says that the US understood little about the country and its leaders, reacting to the threat of communism rather than recognizing the nation's long struggle to gain and keep its independence from foreign invaders.

It explores the Cao Đài monotheist religious sect in Tay Ninh, the corrupt regime of Ngo Dinh Diem, and "Nixon's War".

[8] Scholar David G. Marr in The Journal of Asian Studies criticized FitzGerald's discussion of Vietnamese history and national character, given that she lacked the language and could not read its literature.

But he said she was much more successful in her sections on US involvement, superior to other journalists in analyzing the "Diem regime's fundamental social and political weaknesses" and assessing the National Liberation Front.