Abbreviations
Note on Spelling
Preface
Introduction
Part I: Chiefdoms
Ch. 1 Water, Rice, and Bronze: Prehistoric Viet Nam
Part II: Provinces
Ch. 2 Calming the Waves: Imperial Conquest and Indigenization, 221
BCE-540 CE
Ch. 3 Mountains and Rivers of the South: Annam and its Neighbors,
6th-10th Centuries
Part III: Kingdoms
Ch. 4 "Rice from the Sky": Assembling the Spirits of Dai Viet,
940-1340
Ch. 5 Smooth-Flowing Waters of Government: The Triumph of
Confucianism, 1340-1570
Part IV: Regions
Ch. 6 Contending Shogunates: Inner and Outer Regions, 1570-1770
Ch. 7 Alternative Unifications: Rebellion and Restoration,
1771-1859
Part V: Colonies
Ch. 8 "World Trends" and French Conquest, 1860-1920
Ch. 9 Writing and Revolution from Colonialism to Independence,
1920-1954
Part VI: Republics
Ch. 10 The American-Vietnamese War, 1954-1975
Ch. 11 The Making of Contemporary Viet Nam, 1975-2015
Epilogue
Notes
Index
Ben Kiernan is the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History and Professor of International and Area Studies at Yale University, where he founded the Cambodian Genocide Program and the Genocide Studies Program. He is the author of numerous books including The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979 and Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur.
"Kiernan's dispassionate recording of the behaviour of the regional
powers--Champa, Cambodia, China, India--should help to make Viet
Nam: A History from Earliest Times a durable work."--Sophie
Quinn-Judge, Times Literary Supplement
"Ben Kiernan shifts his gaze eastward in this ambitious study, Viet
Nam: A History from Earliest Times to the Present.... By assessing
the long durée, Kiernan reveals the multifaceted nature of
Vietnam's history and suggests that there was a relatively
transient nature to the ebb and flow of the various dynasties that
competed with one another within Vietnam's territory...suggesting,
quite rightly, that there were alternative historical paths
that might have been taken....A clearly written and broad
introductory overview to the history of Vietnam that is appropriate
for an upper-level undergraduate class." -- Geoffrey C. Stewart,
American Historical Review
"In Viet Nam, Ben Kiernan synthesises three millennia of history in
a beautiful book that aids the reader with numerous maps and over a
dozen photographs documenting the daily life of the Vietnamese
people. It is a work full of insights for students of Southeast
Asia generally and, more specifically, for comparative historians
and political scientists interested in nationalism,
anti-colonialism, US foreign policy, and the reform and
modernisation of
socialism. By taking the long view, the author successfully
liberates the history of Viet Nam from the reductionist view of a
US military misadventure, revealing long-term trends in political
organisation,
culture and environmental changes." -- Vicken Cheterian, University
of Geneva and Webster University Geneva, Europe-Asia Studies
"Comprehensive yet readable ... It will serve the needs of both
experts in Vietnamese history and general readers interested in
Vietnam.... Viet Nam's ability to integrate ecology into political,
cultural and economic history is truly impressive." -- Michael G.
Vann, Asian Studies Review
"Kiernan departs from nationalist narratives to investigate the
changing cultural, political, and ecological relations of the
multiethnic communities that inhabited the diverse regions of
Vietnam. His deep historical study exposes the folly of reducing
Vietnam to a war, a metaphor of US imperialism, or the experiences
of one ethnicity. Adopting a long-term approach that combines
microhistory and macrohistory to decipher the multicausal forces
driving historical
processes, the author examines a time span of 3,000 years,
beginning with the first Bronze Age chiefdoms and ending with the
changing fortunes of the contemporary nation-state....The analysis
is
innovative for incorporating the roles of climate, water, and
geography in explanations of historical continuity or change and
for making ample use of archaeological and textual source
materials. Valuable for both newcomers and experts in Vietnamese
history. Highly recommended."--CHOICE
"This ambitious survey is pathbreaking not only in its
chronological scope (from prehistory to the present) and the
breadth of its sources but also in its thematic reach....Although
the war against the United States is an important part of Vietnam's
story, it takes its place in the broad sweep of history as just one
episode in a long series of struggles that people have waged over
this piece of land."--Andrew J. Nathan, Foreign Affairs
"[In] this major new history of the country...Kiernan makes the
actualities of Vietnamese life and landscape a central
focus...Where Kiernan excels is in his engagement with the complex
cultural and environmental factors that make the country so
distinctive. In particular, he highlights the country's 'aquatic
culture' from prehistoric times right up to this day...[He] makes
sure that Vietnamese women themselves are heard in his narrative
and are not simply
defined by men...Kiernan's readiness to detect and define the
significant details lurking in the sweeping historical panorama,
make Viet Nam a major contribution to contemporary Southeast
Asian
scholarship...[A] sympathetic study of a tenacious and capable
people."--Robin Gerster, Australian Book Review
"This is a remarkably evocative, multifaceted, sophisticated, and
original study not only of those groups who haltingly coalesced as
Vietnamese, but also of the many peoples with whom they interacted,
and indeed of an entire region during two millennia. This book, I
suspect, will become a classic in Asian as well as Southeast Asian
historiography."--Victor Lieberman, University of Michigan
"An audacious book, Kiernan's Viet Nam presents the country's long
history to new, global audiences, eloquently showing how the deep
past continues to shape and inform the present."--David Biggs,
author of Quagmire: Nation-Building and Nature in the Mekong
Delta
"This outstanding book shows that 'Viet Nam has always been much
more than a war.' By making his themes the perennial continuities
and changes in the vital ecologies and polyethnic cultures of the
country, Ben Kiernan tells a story of shifting layers that is lucid
and rich. His work is a kaleidoscope of Vietnamese history."--Greg
Lockhart, author of Nation in Arms: the Origins of the People's
Army of Vietnam
"Kiernan offers a comprehensive overview of Vietnamese history from
prehistoric times to the 21st century...A distinctive quality of
this work is its inclusion of environmental and linguistic history.
The author effectively explains how geography and changing weather
patterns (droughts, etc.) impacted historical development and
demonstrates how changes in language over time provides information
about Vietnam's past...Essential for all students of Vietnamese
history. Extensive descriptions of Vietnam's relations with its
neighbors also make this valuable reading for those interested in
Chinese or Southeast Asian history."--Library Journal
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