Beauty and the Nation

The history of the body and women’s beauty culture provides a unique lens through which to understand social transformations. As Christina Firpo demonstrates with sophistication and analytical rigor, changing gender relations were at the heart of social change in interwar Vietnam. This is cultural history at its best. -- Sebastian Conrad, Freie Universität Berlin Looks matter, as Christina Firpo reminds us in this wonderful study of the culture of beauty in interwar Vietnam. The choices young Vietnamese women made about their appearances and physical activities may have driven their parents out of their Confucian minds, but those changes in behavior speak volumes about deeper social and political changes at work in colonial Vietnam. A highly recommended read. -- Christopher Goscha, Université du Québec à Montréal Firpo’s gracefully written book is carefully tailored to fit its subject matter. With stylish prose and a wealth of rich examples, she shows how style became a topic of great anxiety as Vietnam careened toward its own independence. Debates about fashion, cosmetics, and bodily comportment were not only about looking good but also about what the nation itself might look like. -- Erik Harms, Yale University Exploiting a massive trove of Vietnamese- and French-language sources, Beauty and the Nation demonstrates persuasively that Vietnamese norms and standards of feminine beauty changed decisively between WWI and WWII. Given the narrow preoccupation with war and political revolution that has long dominated the field of modern Vietnamese history, Firpo's lively and sophisticated cultural history provides an invigorating breath of fresh air. -- Peter Zinoman, Helen Fawcett Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley