Vietnam : A New History

Vietnam has had a tumultuous history this past century. So I was intrigued by this newest history of Vietnam from Christopher Goscha; I believed it would focus more on the early history of Vietnam instead of the histories that mostly focus on, the war and the aftermath. Sadly, I was wrong and kind of disappointed. This massive book examines the history of Vietnam from the early pre-colonial days to today. Sadly, the book rehashes ground that is well trodden, the Vietnam War. So little attention is paid to the pre-colonial and colonial days that it almost feels like they never happened. Professor Goscha had a chance to examine a country that has had a long history with the United States from the focus of an outside observer, but it does not come off that way. I felt that a more balanced approach would have worked better. But like the Vietnam War, it is hard to talk about this era of history without talking about it. With so much attention paid in this book to something that is so well known, it feels like this is not really new at all.