Hoa Lu: Poems of Vietnam's Ancient Capital

Originally published in October 2010 as part the millennial celebration of the founding of Hanoi, this book is an impressionistic history of ancient Vietnam told through the poetry of Hoang Quang Thuan. The original Vietnamese appears alongside English translations by Thai Ba Tan and David G. Lanoue. Hoang Quang Thuan opens a door to the past, welcoming readers to a half-forgotten age of dragons and phoenixes, fairies and unicorns, gods and hero-kings. He expresses a deep and genuine love for this "land of fairy caves among cloudy peaks" with its sacred mountains, voluptuous caves and auspicious streams: the Great Viet now known as Vietnam.