This comprehensive work traces Viet Nam's history, a narrative of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious heritage, from ancient chiefdoms to imperial provinces, from independent kingdoms to contending regions, civil wars, French colonies, and modern republics.

Chiefdoms -- Water, rice, and bronze: prehistoric Viãòet Nam -- Provinces -- Calming the waves: imperial conquest and indigenization, 221 BCE-540 CE -- Mountains and rivers of the Southern Kingdom: Annam and its neighbors, sixth to tenth centuries -- Kingdoms -- "Rice from the sky": assembling the spirits of £òai Viãòet, 940-1340 -- Smooth-flowing waters of government: the triumph of Confucianism, 1340-1570 -- Regions -- Inner and outer regions: contending shogunates, 1570-1770 -- Alternative unifications: rebellion and restoration, 1771-1859 -- Colonies -- "World trends" and French conquest, 1860-1920 -- Writing and revolution from colonialism to independence, 1920-54 -- Republics -- The American-Vietnamese War, 1954-75 -- The making of contemporary Viòêt Nam, 1975-2016.