Vietnam's Communist Revolution

Tuong Vu is Director of Asian Studies and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon. A native of Vietnam, he has published extensively on Vietnamese politics and history, Cold War history, and East Asian politics. Vu served on the editorial board of the Journal of Vietnamese Studies during 2006-14. His first book, Paths to Development in Asia: South Korea, Vietnam, China, and Indonesia, received a 2011 Bernard Schwartz Award Honorable Mention.

'Vietnam's Communist Revolution is a path-breaking book in several respects. It is the first study in over a generation to cover the entire century-long history of the Vietnamese communist party from its inception after World War I until the present. Its use of vernacular-language primary documents to tell this important tale is unrivaled. Moreover, it deploys this rich source base to undermine an ossified, politicized conventional wisdom about Vietnamese communism that has endured since the War era. And it suggests a persuasive alternative. This book is a game changer in multiple fields.' Peter Zinoman, University of California, Berkeley

• Introduction. The Vietnamese Revolution in world history; 1. Revolutionary paths through the mind, 1917–30; 2. The consolidation of a Leninist vision, 1931–40; 3. On the frontline of the Cold War, 1940–51; 4. Patriotism in the service of socialism, 1953–60; 5. From idealistic to realistic internationalism, 1957–63; 6. The rise of vanguard internationalism, 1964–75; 7. From revolutionary vanguard to Soviet client, 1976–9; 8. The crisis and death of utopia, 1980–91; 9. Legacies of ideology, 1990–2010; Epilogue; Appendix 1. Ho Chi Minh's letter to Stalin, October 14, 1950; Appendix 2. Anti-American articles written by Ho Chi Minh, 1951–5; Appendix 3. Methodology and sources.