Despite its 3,000 kilometre coastline, few people see Vietnam as a maritime country. Here Li Tana presents a powerful new argument about Vietnamese history: that key political changes resulted from the impact, economic and otherwise, of the sea. This is a finely layered account covering the two millennia before colonisation that radically restructures how we understand the role of the maritime and trans-regional in Vietnam's early history. Drawing on exhaustive research of Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese sources, Li reveals that it is only when viewed against the background of the sea that Vietnam's past can be properly understood. In contrast to traditional perceptions of an inward-looking society dominated by Chinese cultural influence, Vietnam was shaped by dynamic littoral economic and cultural contact.

Honorable Mention, 2025 John Lyman Book Award, North American Society for Oceanic History

‘In chronological breadth and originality, this book surpasses even Prof. Li's now classic Nguyen Cochinchina. This latest meticulous research provides not only for Vietnam, but for the region at large an unprecedented model of a large-scale, longitudinal thematic study. A Maritime Vietnam will only enhance Prof. Li's reputation as one of most assiduous and persuasive scholars ever to have worked in precolonial Southeast Asian history.’

Victor Lieberman - University of Michigan

‘This brilliantly researched and thoughtfully written history of Vietnam as viewed from the sea will force specialists and general readers alike to rethink traditional interpretations of this country’s past, not least of all the outdated idea that the Vietnamese rarely ventured beyond the bamboo walls of their villages. They did - and did so over centuries. Li Tana’s Maritime Vietnam is required reading for anyone interested in Vietnam, whether in ancient times or today.’

Christopher Goscha - Université du Québec à Montréal

‘… a wonderful foray into a facet of the country’s history that is not often told … a useful and provocative new way of looking at Vietnamese history as a whole … This book will signal an important sea change in the historiographical literature, as it is adopted into classes and taught to interdisciplinary graduate students. It is exemplary in its balance of first-rate interpretation of secondary sources and clear command of primary materials. It is also blessedly free of jargon and obfuscating prose, telling its story in a straightforward and unhurried manner. This monograph deserves to be read widely, and it surely will be, both by those in the field of Vietnamese studies and by those scholars with a maritime inclination to their work more generally.

Eric Tagliacozzo - University of Michigan Source: Journal of Vietnamese Studies

‘Crafted by one of the region's leading historians and written in an engaging style, this study of maritime Vietnam offers valuable new perspectives on the dynamics of premodern East and Southeast Asia.… Recommended.’

M. T. Stark Source: CHOICE