Bill Hayton

A comprehensive guide to understanding Vietnam's long and tumultuous history. A Brief History of Vietnam explores the turbulent history of a land that has risen from the ashes of war to become the newest Asian tiger economy. This book expertly examines the history of a people and a nation with ancient roots, which only took its current shape in the...

[A] smart take on modern Chinese nationalism (Foreign Policy). Bill Hayton tells the story of how China came to think of itself as China—and what it means for our world today. In this compelling and highly-readable account, Hayton shows how China’s present-day geopolitical problems—the fates of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, and the South China Sea—were born in the struggle...

Why the world can't afford to be indifferent to the simmering conflict in the South China Sea "The greatest risk today in U.S.-Chinese relations is the South China Sea, through which passes 40% of world trade. . . . Hayton explains how this all came about and points to the growing risks of miscalculation and escalation."—Daniel Yergin, Wall Street Journal...

A much-needed behind-the-scenes survey of an emerging Asian power The eyes of the West have recently been trained on China and India, but Vietnam is rising fast among its Asian peers. A breathtaking period of social change has seen foreign investment bringing capitalism flooding into its nominally communist society, booming cities swallowing up smaller villages, and the lure of modern...

[A] smart take on modern Chinese nationalism (Foreign Policy), this provocative account shows that China—and its 5,000 years of unified history—is a national myth, created only a century ago with a political agenda that persists to this day. China’s current leadership lays claim to a 5,000-year-old civilization, but "China" as a unified country and people, Bill Hayton argues, was created...