Book presents detailed description of Da Lat under French rule

The English language book “Imperial Heights” on Da Lat city by Canadian author Eric T. Jennings has been translated into Vietnamese, providing the most detailed and comprehensive ever insight into the resort city in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

The book, entitled in Vietnamese as “Dinh cao de quoc – Da Lat va su hung vong cua Dong Duong thuoc Phap” (Imperial Heights – Da Lat and the Making and Undoing of French Indochina), was the focus of a talk held in Da Lat city on October 3. The original book was published by the University of California Press in 2011.

Eric T. Jennings, born in 1970, is currently a professor of history at Canada’s University of Toronto and also an expert on the French colonial history.

At first, he did not intend to write about Da Lat, but during 10 years of searching libraries in Vietnam, France, the UK, the US and Switzerland to learn about the French colonialism, he discovered that the French colonialists placed an extremely great ambition on the city located in the hills of central Vietnam.

Tran Duc Tai, the Vietnamese version’s editor and also a Da Lat resident, said he came across “Imperial Heights” on the internet and was surprised that it covers everything about Da Lat and was written by a foreign historian, which is unprecedented.

Deemed as an encyclopedia on Da Lat, it offers exhaustive details on the formation of the city under the French rule from political, economic, military, planning, educational, religious and tourism dimensions, he said, adding that Jennings provided a myriad of new information that cannot be found in documents kept in Vietnam.

Through this book, readers will not only find arguments on why French colonialists put their global ambition on Da Lat but also learn about the mistaken views about Da Lat of the city’s discoverer Alexandre Yersin and historical events that happened in the city.-VNA