Education About Asia: Online Archives

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Feature Article

Viet Nam in the Twenty-First Century: The Unbreakable Bamboo

by Shelton Woods

The Vietnamese entered the twenty-first century after fifty-five years that included fighting the Japanese Imperial Army, a civil war, France, the United States, the Khmer Rouge, and China’s invasion. The Vietnamese suffered starvation during Japan’s occupation and during the 1975 to 1985 era of misguided domestic leadership. But they did not merely endure the last half of the twentieth century when they were attacked and alienated from global and political agencies; instead, they emerged a...

Book Review, Resources

Sources of Vietnamese Tradition

by Shelton Woods

For more than half a century students and academicians have greatly profited from the Columbia series on Sources of various Asian traditions. These include edited volumes on Japan, India, China, and Korea as well as newer editions and abridged volumes. Sources of Vietnamese Tradition, is a welcome addition to the series. In this volume, the editors masterfully created a book that is indispensable for any serious student or teacher of Việt Nam. The book includes more than 200 texts that span th...

Resources, Teaching Resources Essay

The Story of Viet Nam: From Prehistory to the Present

by Shelton Woods

The Story of Việt Nam is an overview of Việt Nam’s history from the first days of village life along the Red River in the north to the rise of the modern mega metropolis of the south’s Hồ Chí Minh City. As the title suggests, the book is a tale—a narrative that is built around four themes: land and freedom, persistence of cultural values, shifting tides of global interests in Việt Nam, and the vital role Việt Nam will play in shaping the twenty-first century.

Book Review Essay, Resources

Joe Rochefort’s War: The Odyssey of the Codebreaker Who Outwitted Yamamoto at Midway

by Shelton Woods

Elliot Carlson’s Joe Rochefort’s War: The Odyssey of the Codebreaker Who Outwitted Yamamoto at Midway is a literary masterpiece. This is a long overdue biography of an individual who helped shape the events of the Pacific War following Japan’s raid on Pearl Harbor. It is not a light read, as each of the 456 pages is packed with first-rate research and brilliant analysis. Carlson’s online audio and video descriptions of his book are helpful for teachers and the general reader. But for thi...

Book Review, Feature Article

A Vietnam War Reader: A Documentary History from American and Vietnamese Perspectives

by Shelton Woods

Divided into seven chapters, the compact A Vietnam War Reader is a brilliant guide to one of history’s most analyzed conflicts. This volume’s excellence is rooted in the editor’s choice of documents and his narrative introductions to each chapter; every chapter introduction concludes with questions for discussion. Professor Michael H. Hunt brings a lifetime of knowledge and scholarship to this edited book. Very few, if any, scholars have the gift for succinct, engaging narrative combined w...

Book Review, Columns

The Vietnam War: A Concise International History

by Shelton Woods

Winston Churchill once told an audience that he intended to give a long speech because he did not have time to prepare a short one. It takes skill to condense a massive subject into a concise, entertaining, and accessible book. But this is what Mark Atwood Lawrence accomplishes in his 224 page book The Vietnam War: A Concise International History. Comprised of eight brief chapters, Lawrence takes the reader through a fast-paced, well-organized overview of the Việt Nam War.

Book Review, Resources

Indigenous Peoples of Asia

by Shelton Woods

Edited by R. H. Barnes, Andrew Gray and Benedict Kingsbury ANN ARBOR, MI: THE ASSOCIATION FOR ASIAN STUDIES, INC., 1995 XII + 539 PAGES According to its editors, Indigenous Peoples of Asia addresses the “novel” issue of “which groups regard themselves as indigenous peoples, which groups are permitted to regard themselves as indigenous peoples, and which groups succeed in being regarded by governments and international agencies as indigenous peoples” (p. 1). The book’s first four c...

Book Review, Resources

Greater China and U.S. Foreign Policy: The Choice Between Confrontation and Mutual Respect

by Shelton Woods

Thomas A. Metzger and Ramon H. Myers, eds. STANFORD: HOOVER INSTITUTION PRESS, 1996 IX + 124 PAGES This work is a compilation of ten papers given by distinguished scholars and diplomats at a December 1994 Hoover Institution-sponsored conference. In addition to undergraduate students, high school juniors and seniors will benefit from this text if they have a background in either political science or twentieth-century Chinese history and have completed a U.S. history course. As a text, Greate...

New to EAA?

Before viewing the full archives, view Editor’s Choice Articles, handpicked by EAA Editor, Lucien Ellington, which provide a good overview of EAA and introduction for new readers.

The AAS Secretariat is closed on Monday, May 29 in observance of the Memorial Day holiday