The Vietnamese Response to French Intervention, 1862-1874

(Hardback)

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This is one of the very few scholarly Western-language studies of the Vietnamese reaction to the French colonial conquest of Vietnam during the 19th century. Utilizing Vietnamese court to the French conquests, Mark McLeod goes beyond studies that only analyze the conflict from primarily French sources. As he states in the introduction, "The dynamic force behind Vietnamese historical development was usually seen to be the activity of colonial enterprises. The Vietnamese people themselves enter these histories only insofar as they hinder or advance colonial policies, to be blamed or praised accordingly." McLeod studies the renaissance of historical writing that followed the political independence of Vietnam and presents the Vietnamese view of the 19th century colonization. "The Vietnamese response to French Intervention" focuses on a period that has been generally neglected by Vietnam scholars - the crucial early years of the French conquest. It then analyzes the role of Catholic missionaries and the Vietnamese reaction to their presence during the conquest. Providing historical background to the period of French colonization, McLeod explores the significance of the long Nguyen dynasty as well as the Franco-Spanish invasion prior to French occupation. Students and scholars of Southeast Asian history and colonization, as well as the general reader interested in Vietnamese ideology and thought, should find this book a valuable resource.

Reviews

McLeod's study attempts to compensate for what the author calls a "Franco-centric" interpretive bias in the literature on 19th-century Vietnamese history, by "confronting" existing accounts with the information contained in official Vietnamese government documents of the time. His larger aim is to provide a detailed account of events in the years 1862 to 1874, a comparatively neglected period during which crucial decisions by both Vietnamese and French leaders did much to determine the character and the outcome of French colonial policy in Vietnam.... Most appropriate for graduate students and specialists in 19th-century Vietnamese history, but sophisticated undergraduates should also be able to profit from the book.-Choice
"McLeod's study attempts to compensate for what the author calls a "Franco-centric" interpretive bias in the literature on 19th-century Vietnamese history, by "confronting" existing accounts with the information contained in official Vietnamese government documents of the time. His larger aim is to provide a detailed account of events in the years 1862 to 1874, a comparatively neglected period during which crucial decisions by both Vietnamese and French leaders did much to determine the character and the outcome of French colonial policy in Vietnam.... Most appropriate for graduate students and specialists in 19th-century Vietnamese history, but sophisticated undergraduates should also be able to profit from the book."-Choice

Author Bio

MARK W. McLEOD is Assistant Professor in History at Gonzaga University.