"Hanoi - A Biography of a City" - a valuable document about the capital city, reflecting the heartfelt emotions of the writer and translator.

The book "Hanoi - A Biography of a City" wasAssoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thua Hy- Former Deputy Head of the Department of Ancient and Medieval Vietnamese History, Faculty of History, University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi, translated from the book "Hanoi: Biography of a City" by Prof. Dr. William Stewart Logan - published by the University of New South Wales (Sidney, Australia), Chairman of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Cultural Heritage Fund.

According to Professor Hoang Anh Tuan, the book covers the more than 1000-year history of Hanoi. It harmoniously combines various domestic and international sources. Furthermore, the book offers a fresh and unique perspective on Hanoi from a foreigner's point of view.
In particular, with its unconventional writing style, structure, and vocabulary, the work stands out among books about Hanoi due to its unique and unconventional tone and writing style.
For this book to reach domestic readers, the contribution of the translator cannot be overlooked. Therefore, Professor Hoang Anh Tuan highly appreciates the knowledge and dedication of Associate Professor Nguyen Thua Hy in translating this book. He believes that the great heart of the author merged with the great heart of the translator to create a work, a legacy, providing those who love Hanoi with a valuable resource about our beloved capital city.

The book "Hanoi - A Biography of a City" was first published by Hanoi Publishing House in 2010, as part of the "Thang Long - Hanoi: A Thousand Years of Culture" book series - a significant project celebrating Hanoi's millennium. In 2023, Hanoi Publishing House reprinted the book to meet the needs of readers and researchers.
"Hanoi - A Biography of a City," over 400 pages long, presents a fairly detailed "biography" of Hanoi spanning a millennium, leading the reader through 8 chapters, from "Ideology, Memory and the Significance of Heritage," "Thang Long, the City of Flying Dragons," "Hanoi in the Pre-Colonial Period and the Imprints of China"... to "Renovation and Hanoi in the 1990s," and "Hanoi Facing the New Millennium."
Author William Stewart Logan is an experienced expert in history, architecture, urban planning, and urban conservation, having written numerous works on these topics, particularly urban areas in developing Asian countries.
From the perspective of a serious and passionate scientist, an "outsider," the author has provided readers who love Hanoi with much useful information and new experiences through this book.