Fairbank Chris Goscha

From: Charles Keith <ckeith@msu.edu>

Date: Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 10:55 AM

Subject: [Vsg] John H. Fairbank Prize

To: vsg@u.washington.edu

Dear list,

On behalf of the other members of the American Historical Association’s John H. Fairbank Prize committee, I’m very pleased to announce that this year’s winner is Christopher Goscha, for his Vietnam: A New History (Basic Books, 2016). The prize citation is as follows:

"Christopher Goscha’s Vietnam: A New History represents a major achievement in writing Asian history in a global context. A clearly written, highly accessible work of synthesis as well as the culmination of two decades of Goscha’s own pathbreaking scholarship, the book brilliantly situates Vietnam’s close and conflict-ridden relationships with China, France, and the U.S. in the broader arcs and patterns of Vietnamese history, especially the profound social, economic and cultural transformations of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."

This is a major accomplishment and much-deserved recognition for Chris’s many contributions to our field. I’m sure you all join me in congratulating him.

Best,

Charles Keith

Associate Professor

Department of History

Michigan State University

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From: Lien-Hang Nguyen <lienhangnguyen@gmail.com>

Date: Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 5:54 AM

Subject: Re: [Vsg] John H. Fairbank Prize

To: Hue-Tam Tai <hhtai@fas.harvard.edu>

Cc: Charles Keith <ckeith@msu.edu>, Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Dear VSGers,

Please see below the very kind and generous message from the Fairbank recipient...

-Hang

Dear colleagues and friends,

I wanted to thank you for your very kind words about the Fairbank prize for Vietnam. A New History. I can't tell you how honoured I am.

Crafting a work of synthesis or a general history such as Vietnam. A New History is not the same as writing a research monograph. One of the things I told myself at the outset was that I had to take the work of others seriously, read it, and synthesize it honestly and correctly. That, however, was easier said than done for this mortal, especially when I made the mad decision to start my story at the dawn of time and end in the present, tackling subjects about which I admittedly often knew very little. While I tried to incorporate everyone's work, I know that there are those I missed and I apologize to them. But as I said in the preface to my book and I'll say it again here in all sincerity: a general history, if it's done well, necessarily stands on the shoulders of others. In that sense, it's truly a joint project and my hope is that I haven't just pushed my version of the past but that I've also taken your work seriously and done it justice in what I crafted. The biggest pillar on which this book rests is the research produced by the members of the VSG.

I thank you all,

chris

On Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 3:15 PM, Hue-Tam Tai <hhtai@fas.harvard.edu> wrote:

Big congratulations to Chris for an eminently well deserved recognition. Chris has done so much to elucidate the history of twentieth century Vietnam and to situate it in a global context while also attending to the indigenous dimensions of the many conflicts that engulfed the country.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend either the AHA or the AAS, but will be there in spirit to rejoice with Chris.

Hue-Tam Ho Tai

Harvard University (emerita)

On Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 2:50 PM, Hang Nguyen <lienhangnguyen@gmail.com> wrote:

I'd like to add my note of congrats to Chris and also get a headcount for how many VSGers will be at the AHA to celebrate afterwards!

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 10, 2017, at 2:08 PM, Shawn McHale <mchale@gwu.edu> wrote:

Holy moly! Well deserved.