New York: Hyperion, 2000. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. xix, [3], 695,[3] pages. Illustrations. Endpaper map. Maps. Notes. Index. Some wear and soiling to DJ. William J. Duiker is a former United States Foreign Service officer and was the Liberal Arts Professor Emeritus of East Asian Studies at Penn State University. His area of expertise is East Asia; while in the Foreign Service, he was stationed in Taiwan (the Republic of China), the Republic of (South) Vietnam, and Washington, D.C.. After leaving the State Department in 1965, he received his Ph.D. degree in East Asian studies at Georgetown University. While at Penn State, Duiker served for ten years as Director of International Programs and as Chairman of the East Asian Studies Committee. He is the author of several books, including The Rise of Nationalism in Vietnam, Cultures in Collision: The Boxer Rebellion, Sacred War: Nationalism and Revolution in a Divided Vietnam, The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam, U.S. Containment Policy and the Conflict in Indochina, China and Vietnam: the Roots of Conflict, and Ho Chi Minh: A Life. The latter, published in 2000, was the first comprehensive biography of Ho Chi Minh using sources from Vietnam. This biography of Marxist revolutionary and political leader Ho Chi Minh chronicles his peasant background, his education--which included formative years in Paris--and his role as leader of the liberation movement to unify his people as a nation. In 1954, Ho became President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The rest of his life, until 1969, was spent in a protracted war against South Vietnam and its ally, the United States of America. More