Taylor, Keith Weller

Keith Weller Taylor (born 1946) is an American historian. He is Professor of Sino-Vietnamese Cultural Studies in the Department of Asian Studies at Cornell University. He received his PhD from the University of Michigan in 1976. Contrary to the majority of Western historians with expertise in Vietnamese history, who predominantly discuss the events of the 20th century, particularly the US involvement, Taylor's scholarly exploration primarily delves into the pre-colonial history of Vietnam prior to the 20th century. He is now considered one of the pioneer experts in this field. He fought in Vietnam as a soldier in the United States Army, and subsequently has visited Vietnam for research and scholarly exchange many times and lived continuously in Vietnam for two years in the early 1990s while studying and teaching. He has researched all periods of the Vietnamese past and has developed a particular interest in Vietnamese poetry and how it has changed from generation to generation. In 2015 he received the Phan Châu Trinh Cultural Foundation Prize for Vietnamese Studies in Ho Chi Minh City.