William J. Duiker is a former

United States Foreign Service The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carr ...

officer and is currently Liberal Arts Professor Emeritus of East Asian Studies at

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

. His area of expertise is

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

; while in the Foreign Service, he was stationed in Taiwan (the Republic of China), the Republic of (South) Vietnam, and Washington, D.C.. After leaving the State Department in 1965, he received his PhD degree in East Asian studies at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

. While at Penn State, Duiker served for ten years as Director of International Programs and as Chairman of the East Asian Studies Committee. He is the author of several books, including ''The Rise of Nationalism in Vietnam'', ''Cultures in Collision: The Boxer Rebellion'', ''Sacred War: Nationalism and Revolution in a Divided Vietnam'', ''The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam,'' ''U.S. Containment Policy and the Conflict in Indochina'', ''China and Vietnam: the Roots of Conflict'', and ''Ho Chi Minh: A Life''. The last, published in 2000, was the first comprehensive biography of

Ho Chi Minh (born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho () among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first President of Vietnam, president of the ...

using sources from Vietnam. He also collaborates with his colleague Jackson J. Spielvogel in authoring the textbook ''World History'', which is now in its ninth edition with Cengage Press. He is also the sole author of ''Contemporary World History'' (Cengage Press), which is now in its seventh edition. Duiker retired from teaching in 1997 and currently lives in Southern Shores, N.C., with his wife Yvonne. He has two children: Laura Duiker Garlitos and Claire Louise Duiker.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Duiker, William J. Pennsylvania State University faculty Historians of the Vietnam War Living people 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers United States Foreign Service personnel American male non-fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people) Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences alumni