An International and Interdisciplinary Approach
Christopher E. Goscha
- Published: 2011
- Pages: 600 pp.
- illustrated
- Series: NIAS Reference Library
- Series number: 4
* First dictionary in English of the Indochina War (1945–54).
* More than a simple military or political history of the conflict.
* Adopts a path-breaking dual international and interdisciplinary approach to explore social, cultural, and economic themes underpinning the conflict.
* Demonstrates the remarkable international context of what previously was regarded a simple Franco-Vietnamese war of decolonization.

Christopher Goscha is Associate Professor of International Relations and Southeast Asian History at the Université du Québec à Montréal. He has published widely on cultural, social, political, and diplomatic aspects of colonial Indochina and the wars for modern Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
"This richly textured, magisterial volume draws on an impressive range of Vietnamese, French and English-language archival and secondary sources.
"This richly textured, magisterial volume draws on an impressive range of Vietnamese, French and English-language archival and secondary sources.
(…) It should be clear from what I’ve written that anyone interested in the First Indochina War, or the Second for that matter, will need to consult this definitive, beautifully organized chef d’oeuvre (…). Anyone writing about the period will probably need to consult it on a daily basis."
“… this very useful, high-quality publication is a
valuable acquisition for all libraries with reference collections in modern Asian history. Summing Up: Highly
recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.”
“… this very useful, high-quality publication is a
valuable acquisition for all libraries with reference collections in modern Asian history. Summing Up: Highly
recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.”
"Christopher E. Goscha’s Historical Dictionary of the Indochina War (1945-1954) is a landmark achievement. It expands the existing scholarly parameters of the conflict and provides a new model for what a historical dictionary can – and probably should – be.
"Christopher E. Goscha’s Historical Dictionary of the Indochina War (1945-1954) is a landmark achievement. It expands the existing scholarly parameters of the conflict and provides a new model for what a historical dictionary can – and probably should – be. The entries – including people, concepts, events, places, agreements, and government entities – constitute the most thorough collection of information about the Indochina War assembled in any volume. Collectively they offer readers an authoritative and well-written narrative by one of the few scholars of Southeast Asian history who has the Western and Asian language skills to produce a work of this breadth.
…Goscha’s dictionary fills the gap in available sources about the war. Not only is it the first English-language historical dictionary of a conflict commonly known in Vietnam War studies as ‘the French war’, it offers a comprehensive approach that transcends the narrow foci of works produced in France and Vietnam.
[…]in the case of Goscha’s Historical Dictionary of the Indochina War, the resulting product lands squarely on the side of magnificence."