The Penguin History of Modern Vietnam

The first history for a general audience of one of Asia's most fascinating and complex countries.

As more and more visitors come to Vietnam, 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 colonisers. The Penguin History of Modern Vietnam by Christopher Goscha 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.

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 and the byways, curiosities, differences, cultures, and peoples that have done so much over the centuries to define the many versions of Vietnam.