The history of Vietnam prior to the nineteenth century is rarely examined in any detail. In this groundbreaking work, K. W. Taylor takes up this challenge, addressing a wide array of topics from the earliest times to the present day - including language, literature, religion, and warfare - and themes - including Sino-Vietnamese relations, the interactions of the peoples of different regions within the country, and the various forms of government adopted by the Vietnamese throughout their history. A History of the Vietnamese is based on primary source materials, combining a comprehensive narrative with an analysis which endeavours to see the Vietnamese past through the eyes of those who lived it. Taylor questions long-standing stereotypes and clichés about Vietnam, drawing attention to sharp discontinuities in the Vietnamese past. Fluently written and accessible to all readers, this highly original contribution to the study of Southeast Asia is a landmark text for all students and scholars of Vietnam.

WINNER OF THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION'S JOHN K. FAIRBANK PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE CUNDHILL HISTORY PRIZE 2017 'This is the finest single-volume history of Vietnam in English. It challenges myths, and raises questions about the socialist republic's political future' Guardian 'Powerful and compelling. Vietnam will be of growing importance in the twenty-first-century world, particularly as China and the US rethink their roles in Asia. Christopher Goscha's book is a brilliant account of that country's history.' - Rana Mitter 'A vigorous, eye-opening account of a country of great importance to the world, past and future' - Kirkus Reviews Over the centuries the Vietnamese have beenboth colonizers themselves and the victims of colonization by others. Their country expanded, shrunk, split and sometimes disappeared, often under circumstances far beyond their control. Despite these often overwhelming pressures, Vietnam has survived as one of Asia's most striking and complex cultures. As more and more visitors come to this extraordinary country, there has been for some years a need for a major history - a book which allows the outsider to understand the many layers left by earlier emperors, rebels, priests and colonizers. Christopher Goscha's new work amply fills this role. Drawing on a lifetime of thinking about Indo-China, he has created a narrative which is consistently seen from 'inside' Vietnam but never loses sight of the connections to the 'outside'. As wave after wave of invaders - whether Chinese, French, Japanese or American - have been ultimately expelled, we see the terrible cost to the Vietnamese themselves. Vietnam's role in one of the Cold War's longest conflicts has meant that its past has been endlessly abused for propaganda purposes and it is perhaps only now that the events which created the modern state can be seen from a truly historical perspective. Christopher Goscha draws on the latest research and discoveries in Vietnamese, French and English. His book is a major achievement, describing both the grand narrative of Vietnam's story but also the byways, curiosities, differences, cultures and peoples that have done so much over the centuries to define the many versions of Vietnam.

The definitive history of modern Vietnam and its diverse and divided past

This monumental narrative clarifies, analyses and demystifies the terrible ordeal of the Vietnam war. Free of ideological bias, profound in its understanding and compassionate in its portrayal of humanity, it is filled with fresh revelations drawn from secret documents and from exclusive interviews with the participants - French, American, Vietnamese, Chinese: diplomats, military commanders, high government officials, journalists, nurses, workers and soldiers. The Vietnam war was the most convulsive tragedy of recent times. This is its definitive history.

The first work to chronicle the history of Vietnam beginning in the legendary past—a memory that is so significant to the Vietnamese identity and belief system. Written by a native, this history portrays the Sino-Viet interdependence that lasted for 1,000 years and had such an influence on Vietnamese culture. When in the 15th century, the Vietnamese finally evicted their Chinese masters, they were subsequently overrun with the forces of Westernization, the spice trade and industrialization. Chapuis's history takes us to the French conquest through the regimes of Emperors Gia Long, Ming Mang, Thieu Tri, and Tu Duc.

Tied in to Ken Burns' forthcoming (2017) TV series on Vietnam, to which the author is a major contributor, the reissue of a Pulitzer finalist memoir of a Vietnamese family in the 20th century

"Examines the history of Vietnam leading up to the war, investigates the reasons for the conflict, looks at the war's escalation and progression (or lack thereof), and explores its repercussions then and now"--Provided by publisher.