Allegories of the Vietnamese Past

Book excerpt: "In order to legitimate a particular ideal, such as the concept of a nation, various historians have embellished or even fabricated certain episodes in history to bolster a preferred vision of Vietnamese nationalism and to provide an ideological justification for their favored regime. This study proposes that the interpretation of historical allegories can elucidate the ideologies of unification and identity more effectively than resorting to a simple empirical approach to the past."--