Millenarianism and Peasant Politics in Vietnam: 99 (Harvard East Asian Series) - Tapa dura

An exceptionally perceptive and well-written account of millenarianism in south Vietnam. The work fills a gaping void in our understanding of the complexity of rural society in that region and of the strengths and weaknesses of the sectarian movement that posed the most important challenge to the communist revolutionaries in that area. Tai is uniquely qualified for the demanding task of analyzing the hitherto obscure origins and development of perhaps the most important socioreligious movement in modern south Vietnamese history, as well as the reasons for its political failure...This book is an outstanding contribution to the growing literature on the nature of the peasantry in the Third World, as well as to crucial but little understood dimensions of Vietnam's modern revolution.

The story [of this work] is a curious one embodying magic, religious fanaticism, protective amulets, healing, nationalist politics, and other elements too numerous to mention...[The author's] account is a fascinating one...The most comprehensive account that could have been written about these arcane, fiercely local, and rarely consistent sects of the Mekong delta.

Hue-Tam Ho Tai is Kenneth T. Young Professor of Sino-Vietnamese History, Harvard University.