Vietnamese history prior to the tenth century has often been treated as a branch of Chinese history, but the Vietnamese side of the story can no longer be ignored. In this volume Keith Taylor draws on both Chinese and Vietnamese sources to provide a balanced view of the early history of Vietnam.

Keith Weller Taylor is Associate Professor of Vietnamese Studies, Cornell University.

"The period covered in Keith Taylor's ambitious and pioneering book has often been skated over lightly by historians of Vietnam, who seem unsure whether it belongs to Vietnamese or Chinese history. It stretches from the origins of the Vietnamese people . . . through eleven centuries of Chinese rule down to the tenth century, when the Vietnamese gained a fragile independence in the shadow of the Chinese empire. . . . With this work of meticulous scholarship, Taylor has put both Vietnamese and Chinese historians in his debt."—Hue-Tam Ho Tai, Pacific Affairs Review

"Taylor draws on myriad sources including Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese scholarship, Chinese and Vietnamese contemporary accounts of the period and archaeological and linguistic data. The result is an authoritative source for anyone interested in this period of Vietnamese history."—Journal of International Law and Politics

"An important addition to the growing library of Western literature on the history of Vietnam. For those who may be tempted to dismiss it as too scholarly a study of a period lost in the mists of time, one should also add that it is a good read."—R. B. Smith, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies

"This is an outstanding work. For researchers, it is a mine of historical sources interpreted and analyzed. To teachers, it provides a solid foundation for data on a period of history that hitherto yielded scanty conclusions. . . . Congratulations and many thanks to the author."—Truong Buu Lam, American Historical Review