01/30/2017
Goscha (Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 1858–1954), associate professor of history at the Université du Quebec à Montréal, prioritizes the Vietnamese perspective in this sterling history of the Southeast Asian nation. This is a substantial and accessible volume that starts in ancient times and runs to the 21st century. Combining trustworthy secondary sources with documents, letters, and other recently discovered or released primary sources, Goscha succeeds in emphasizing “Vietnam’s own role in shaping its history” and highlighting “the country’s extraordinary diversity and complexity.” He positions Vietnam as a multiplicity rather than a political entity unified over time, and addresses the effects of imperialism and colonialism. Goscha devotes just two chapters (of 14) to the Second Indochina War (known to his fellow Americans as the Vietnam War), and his relatively short but illuminating narrative of the war foregrounds Vietnamese history, society, culture, and politics. Refreshingly, he barely mentions American presidents, politicians, generals, and war-policy makers. The latter parts of the book, addressing modern Vietnam, are replete with references and comparisons to what came before in Vietnamese history, primarily events related to the roles of the Chinese and French conquerors of Indochina. After reading this book, even dyed-in-the-wool American exceptionalists will surely think of Vietnam as a country, not a war. Maps & illus. (Sept.)
In Vietnam, Christopher Goscha tells the full history of Vietnam, from antiquity to the present day. Generations of emperors, rebels, priests, and colonizers left complicated legacies in this remarkable country. Periods of Chinese, French, and Japanese rule reshaped and modernized Vietnam, but so too did the colonial enterprises of the Vietnamese themselves as they extended their influence southward from the Red River Delta. Over the centuries, numerous kingdoms, dynasties, and states have ruled over what is now Vietnam. Trinh and Nguyen military lords led competing states in the seventeenth century. French colonizers grouped Vietnam with Laos and Cambodia in an Indochinese Union, but governed Vietnam itself as three separate territorial units. The bloody Cold War-era and the American-backed Republic of Vietnam was only the most recent instance when war divided and transformed Vietnam.
A major achievement, Vietnam offers the grand narrative of the country's complex past and the creation of the modern state of Vietnam. At a time when more and more visitors come to Vietnam and Southeast Asia is again at the center of intense global rivalries, this is the definitive single-volume history for anyone seeking to understand Vietnam today.
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A major achievement, Vietnam offers the grand narrative of the country's complex past and the creation of the modern state of Vietnam. At a time when more and more visitors come to Vietnam and Southeast Asia is again at the center of intense global rivalries, this is the definitive single-volume history for anyone seeking to understand Vietnam today.
Vietnam: A New History
In Vietnam, Christopher Goscha tells the full history of Vietnam, from antiquity to the present day. Generations of emperors, rebels, priests, and colonizers left complicated legacies in this remarkable country. Periods of Chinese, French, and Japanese rule reshaped and modernized Vietnam, but so too did the colonial enterprises of the Vietnamese themselves as they extended their influence southward from the Red River Delta. Over the centuries, numerous kingdoms, dynasties, and states have ruled over what is now Vietnam. Trinh and Nguyen military lords led competing states in the seventeenth century. French colonizers grouped Vietnam with Laos and Cambodia in an Indochinese Union, but governed Vietnam itself as three separate territorial units. The bloody Cold War-era and the American-backed Republic of Vietnam was only the most recent instance when war divided and transformed Vietnam.
A major achievement, Vietnam offers the grand narrative of the country's complex past and the creation of the modern state of Vietnam. At a time when more and more visitors come to Vietnam and Southeast Asia is again at the center of intense global rivalries, this is the definitive single-volume history for anyone seeking to understand Vietnam today.
A major achievement, Vietnam offers the grand narrative of the country's complex past and the creation of the modern state of Vietnam. At a time when more and more visitors come to Vietnam and Southeast Asia is again at the center of intense global rivalries, this is the definitive single-volume history for anyone seeking to understand Vietnam today.
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Product Details
BN ID: | 2940170661527 |
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Publisher: | Tantor Audio |
Publication date: | 09/26/2017 |
Edition description: | Unabridged |
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