A Dragon Apparent: Travels in Cambodia

Norman Lewis

"This was a very interesting read... back to the times before commercialism took over these areas. Extremely readable and made me want to find out more" Jan Lander

Colloquial Cambodian

David Smyth

A guide to contemporary Cambodian with easy-to-follow lessons. The book contains an English-Cambodian and Cambodian-English glossary.

The Magic of the Mekong

Julie Sarasin (Photographer)

This is a 5000-kilometre photographic odyssey along one of the world's greatest rivers, stretching from the plateau of Tibet to the South China Sea. The author shares with readers her experiences of the extremes of acommodation, weather and environment and the physical demands of travelling in the region. Two hundred and thirty colour photographs capture the diverse panorama of life in six nations.

Voices from S-21

David Chandler

This text examines the Khmer Rouge phenomenon by focusing on one of its key institutions, the secret prison outside Phnom Penh known by the code name "S-21". More than a chronicle of the Khmer Rouge barbarism it is an examination of the psychological dimension of state-sponsored terrorism.

Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia. Reprinted October 2002.

William Shawcross

Good to see it is available once again. My dog-eared copy was bought from a street vendor in Ho Chi Minh City and lost in Hanoi before I was able to finish it. So I'm particularly glad to be able to get hold of a new copy. Brilliant book.(David).

Brother Number One: A Political Biography

David P. Chandler

In the tragic recent history of Cambodia - a past scarred by a long occupation by Vietnamese forces and by the preceding three-year reign of terror by the brutal Khmer Rouge - no figure looms larger or more ominously than that of Pol Pot. As secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) from 1962 and as Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea (DK), he was widely blamed for trying to destroy Cambodian society by implementing policies whose effects were genocidal. Based on interviews and on a wide range of sources in English, Cambodian, and French, this study seeks to cast light on the ideas and behaviour of this enigmatic man and his entourage against the background of post-World War II events, and to provide an understanding of this horrific, pivotal period of Cambodian history.

Angkor

Claude Jacques, Michael Freeman (Photographer)

This pictorial record celebrates the cities and temples of Angkor in Southeast Asia. Ever since explorer and naturalist Henri Mouhot rediscovered the centre of Khmer civilization in Cambodia over a hundred years ago, the buildings, which date from the 9th to the 13th century, have become a source of great interest. Each of the significant monuments is illustrated, including the Angkor Wat itself, and the overgrown 13th-century temples of Ta Prohm and Preah Kahn.

Cambodia : Report from a Stricken Land

Henry Kamm

"Kamm vividly communicates the pain and the pathos of the Cambodian people as they have been used and misused both as pawns in larger geopolitical struggles by Thailand, Viet Nam, China, the former Soviet Union, and, sadly, the United States as well as their internal political leaders- including the current batch of squabbling, feuding leaders obsessed with power and the perquisites of power while the pressing needs of the masses of the Cambodian people go abegging." Amazon reviewer

The Gate

Francois Bizot

French ethnologist Francois Bizot's The Gate is a unique insight into the rise of the Khmer Rouge. In 1971 Bizot was studying ancient khmer traditions and living with his khmer partner and daughter in a small village in the environs of the Angkor temple complex. The Khmer Rouge was fighting a guerilla war in rural Cambodia and during a routine visit to a nearby temple, Bizot and his two khmer colleagues were captured and imprisoned deep in the jungle by the Khmer Rouge on suspicion of working for the CIA. On trial for his life, over the next three months Bizot developed a strong relationship with his captor, Comrade Douch, who would later become the Khmer Rouge's chief interrogator and commandant of the horrifying Tuol Sleng prison where thousands were tortured prior to execution. The portrait Bizot gives of the young schoolteacher-turned revolutionary and their interaction is simultaneously fascinating and terrifying.

When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge.

Chanrithy Him

This is one of the first childhood memoirs to emerge from the hell of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. Capturing the overwhelming immediacy of the baffling events, Chanrithy Him writes through the eyes of her younger self in the present tense. She vividly recounts her trek through the hell of the "killing fields" and gives a child's-eye view of a world where rudimentary labour camps are the norm and modern technology no longer exists. Death and illness become companions in the camps; yet throughout, her family remain loyal to one another.