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"The Stones Cry Out is startlingly good as literature. It is also an important addition to a thin historical record. . . . Her account of the revolutionary rhetoric, set against the reality of what the revolutionaries were actually doing, is as macabre as any of the descriptions of bodies."--The Wall Street Journal

"This is a powerful and compelling story of terror, struggle and death sprinkled with moments of tenderness, written by a woman who writes not of politics but only of what she experienced."--New York Times Book Review

In 1975, Molyda Szymusiak (her adoptive name), the daughter of a high Cambodian official, was twelve years old and leading a relatively peaceful life in Phnom Penh. Suddenly, on April 17, Khmer Rouge radicals seized the capital and drove all its inhabitants into the countryside. The chaos that followed has been widely publicized, most notably in the movie The Killing Fields. Murderous brutality coupled with raging famine caused the death of more than two million people, nearly a third of the population. This powerful memoir documents the horror Cambodians experienced in daily life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Heartbreaking
Cruel and horrifying, this story of near-death during the Pol Pot regime is excruciatingly painful. The author is the sole survivor of an entire family, and manages to escape with a cousin to the refugee camps in Thailand, but not before watching her siblings and parents die of starvation, a tragedy told in unflinching and agonizing detail. In fact, the day-by-day progression of this story is occasionally hard to accept--how could a girl on the verge of death remember every event of every day? When I discovered that her adoptive parents were psychiatrists, I suspected that possibly they were "helping" Molyda recall for therapeutic benefit.

One of the odd things about this book is the lack of introspection--Szymusiak describes one painful experience after another with clinical objectivity and only rarely lets us know her own feelings of anguish and hopelessness.

The book has some historical interest as it was one of the very first personal accounts published of survival under the Khmer Rouge.

the most gut-wrenching historical account I've ever read
There are no words adequate to convey the effect THE STONES CRY OUT had on me when I read it in 1986.It haunted me for years.I wanted everyone I knew to read it.

Just several years ago I met a woman whose entire family - her husband and all her children - died under the Khmer Rouge monsters.

Amazingly, after the stories Miss Szymusiak recounts: of the young girl who was killed for being too pretty, of those murdered for daring to exhibit signs of affection for one another, and of unspeakable tortures inflicted upon absolutely helpless and innocent people of all ages, the chapter which really drained my blood was the one detailing her witnessing the beginning of the purge.The author notes the young Communist cadres being themselves called in for interrogation and torture and disappearing one by one.

This is a chilling account of the darkest period in 20th Century history.

Treated worse than dogs
You need a strong stomach to read the grueling ordeal of a 12 year old girl in Cambodia under the Pol Pot regime.
The latter and his cronies turned a whole country into a concentration camp guided by the iron fist of a centrally planned economy which was based on rice production quotas.
Starvation and killing of whole families including babies were part of normal daily life. The author herself lost nearly all her family.
The slogan was 'be deaf and dump if you want to survive'.

Exceptionally, this book also relates the disturbing facts which happened in a Red Khmer camp in Thailand until one year after Pol Pot's defeat by the Vietnamese.

Molyda Szymusiak tells only the facts. She doesn't explain the overall picture of Pol Pot's regime, politically, socially, economically or internationally.
Therefore I highly recommend the eminent works of David Chandler as well as Philip Short's magisterial biography of Pol Pot (Saloth Sar).

This book shows painfully the disastrous consequences of a power grasp by ideological fanatics who created a one party state bureaucracy which wielded total uncontrolled power over the population.
This regime was a terrible shame for the left.

A very disturbing read.

Chilling and moving
My heart sank lower and lower with each successive chapter. This is certainly not a book one can read while couching comfortably on a sofa. If you are familiar with Cambodian history of the Khmer Rouge regime, this book is indeed a chilling read. But at the same time, one can't help feeling admiration for the author's fortitide in the face of unimaginable hardship and horror.

A child's account of her family's struggle to survive.
One of the earliest (1986) accounts from the survivors of the Pol Pot regime, "The Stones Cry Out" seems to have set the style and standard for another more recent child's-eye perspective on the same era,"When Broken Glass Floats".The minute details of everyday life,not abstract poltical assessments, form the basis for our childhoodmemories.The author's account carries an unvarnished realism which drawsthe reader into her film-like image of daily life under threat ofstarvation and execution.This is probably as close as a reader can cometo the truth of events in Cambodia during 1975-79.Oral histories such as"The Stones Cry Out" are perhaps the best way for survivors ofhuman rights abuses to indict the perpetrators.Sadly, tribunals driven byinternational politics are unlikely to have the same impact as the simpletestimony of a victimized child.Highly recommended reading for all thosewith an interest in human rights, Cambodia, and Southeast Asian culture. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from American Scholar, published by Thomson Gale on September 22, 2007. The length of the article is 3508 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: At last, a tribunal for Khmer Rouge atrocities.(Letter from Cambodia)
Author: Dustin Roasa
Publication: American Scholar (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 76Issue: 4Page: 8(6)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from World Education Encyclopedia, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 897 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.This country-by-country survey of educational systems provides detailed essays on the histories, legal foundations, and primary and secondary educational systems of 233 countries. This edition provides up-to-date coverage of reorganized educational systems and technological advances. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Science and Its Times, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1050 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The histories of science, technology, and mathematics merge with the study of humanities and social science in this interdisciplinary reference work. Essays on people, theories, discoveries, and concepts are combined with overviews, bibliographies of primary documents, and chronological elements to offer students a fascinating way to understand the impact of science on the course of human history and how science affects everyday life. Entries represent people and developments throughout the world, from about 2000 B.C. through the end of the twentieth century. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 4330 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Advances in technology continue to accelerate the pace at which people and companies are doing business with entities in foreign countries. As a result, the demand for comprehensive, up-to-date economic information about foreign companies has increased as well. The Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies satisfies this immediate need and provides a thorough understanding of the current and historical economic development of foreign nations. Clearly arranged by country within broad geographic regions, the Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies provides accurate, in-depth analysis of each country's economic environment, reliable statistics on the country's current economic conditions and trends and key demographics of the nation's citizens. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Countries and Their Cultures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 2332 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Covers the broad range of popular religious culture of the United States at the close of the twentieth century. Beliefs, practices, symbols, traditions, movements, organizations, and leaders from the many traditions in the pluralistic American community are represented. Also includes cults and phenomena that drew followers, such as Heaven's Gale and UFOs. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Science and Its Times, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 477 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The histories of science, technology, and mathematics merge with the study of humanities and social science in this interdisciplinary reference work. Essays on people, theories, discoveries, and concepts are combined with overviews, bibliographies of primary documents, and chronological elements to offer students a fascinating way to understand the impact of science on the course of human history and how science affects everyday life. Entries represent people and developments throughout the world, from about 2000 B.C. through the end of the twentieth century. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of Religion, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 6727 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The second edition of this highly regarded encyclopedia, preserving the best of the first edition's cross-cultural approach, while emphasizing religion's role within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture, this new edition is the definitive work in the field for the 21st century. An international team of scholars and contributors have reviewed, revised and added to every word of the classic work, making it relevant to the questions and interests of all researchers. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 17617 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Presents easy-to-understand information on 200 countries and dependencies from around the world. Entries discuss a variety of topics in detail, from banking and securities to climate, from government data to demographic statistics. Also includes biographical essays on national leaders. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 4512 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Comprehensive and written clearly, the Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations features consistent coverage of all countries while allowingfor easy comparison on the different nations of the world. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 3124 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices provides information on current religious practices around the world with an emphasis on how religions impact the daily lives of their followers. Included are detailed entries on 13 major religions, such as Christianity and Islam, and entries on 28 religious subgroups, such as Shi'ites or Baptists.Provides Date of Origin, Dietary Practices, Number of Followers, Social Aspects, Controversial Issues, Major Theologians and Authors, Cultural Impact, Houses of Worship, Holy Places, What is Sacred, Rituals, Rites of Passage, Festivals and Holidays, Membership, Social Justice, Modes of Dress and Founder.Also includes significant religions in 193 countries that detail History, Political Impact, Other Religions, Religious Tolerance and more. ... Read more

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Dual text - ENGLISH AND KHMER TEXT ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

About This Book...
The first edition of this book was apparently released in 1960 in Saigon in a 6-color woven binding. 296 pp. Bibliography, Maps.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Glossary of Sanskrit Words
Abbreviations
Select Bibliography

Land and People
The Ancient Period: Political History
The Ancient Period: Cultural and Other Conditions

The Early Medieval Period: Political History: Chenla and its Kings
The Early Medieval Period: Cultural and Other Conditions

The Late Medieval Period: Political History
The Late Medieval Period: Cultural and Other Conditions

The Transitional Period: Political History
- The First Phase of Siamese Pressure
- The Second Phase of Siamese Pressure and the Annamite Intrusion

The Modern Period: The French Intrusion and the French Protectorate

Maps
Errata
... Read more

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Illuminates many facets of these spectacular cloths. ... Read more

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The author shares his first hand account of life under the Khmer Rouge regime and explains how he survived. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Falters after the first half
This book started off with a bang.The events of 1975 Cambodia are covered well with a lot of interesting observations.The enforcers of the Khmer Rouge, it seems, were mainly children with automatic weapons.

The atrocities, lies and horrible conditions that the people of Cambodia faced at the hands of the "liberators" are described in detail, sometimes lurid.

However, the author went on a little too far spending many pages talking about life after scooting out of the troubled country.

An epic book
The other reviews sum up this book very well.It is a compelling tale of survival in the most horrendous of circumstances, of which "The Killing Fields" gives only a small glimpse.I felt changed by the book.It's hard to look at state-sponsored torture in the same light after you read it.And it's hard to grasp man's inhumanity to man on such a vast scale.

The brutality of the Khymer Rouge regime.
Ngor details the coming and going of the Khymer Rouge regime in Cambodia.This was a purely evil regime.As Ngor states Angwa was the all knowing, all seeing Cambodian regime.Unfortunately, they were simplistic in how they chose to solve Cambodia's problems.Not enough food, empty out the cities and send the urban population to grow crops.Medical problems, well grind up vitamins and give shots to the population.While the city and rural population grew thinner, the soldiers and the regime bureaucrats got fatter and fatter.Ngor details the incredibly evil regime of Pol Pot.In the end, some of the evil doers meet justice.One of the regime region's chiefs is roasted over a fire and Ngor gets to see the end of this evil man.

This is the life story of Haing Ngor.He survived three prison camp experiences in the gulag of Cambodia.He ended up seeing this evil regime of Pol Pot replaced with a North Vietnamese backed Cambodian puppet regime.He eventually is placed in the U.S. and then goes on to star in a Hollywood film called the Killing Fields.This is a great story of love and endurance.It is all true.

A Classic
I was drawn into this book after first viewings of the film "The Killing Fields."At the time, I was unaware of a lot of the background to many of the events depicted onscreen, and was looking for something a bit more detailed.

As it turned out, this book was something far greater than that, on a par with the writings of Primo Levi, or Elie Wiesel as a depiction of survival amid the most grotesque extremes in ideological depravity humanity could conjure up.Through survival, later stardom and human rights work, Dr. Ngor became (and posthumously remains) one of the great human rights educators of our time.

In this eloquent autobiography, he also accomplishes something else - vivid and affectionate portrayals of Cambodian culture (pre-revolution), and a detailed description of the slide into civil war and the anarchic chaos of Phnom Penh immediately before the fall.

And he also crafts a love story; a memorable and majestic one, of a romance that he attempted to nourish in spite of the societal upheaval occuring around him and his wife.The detail in his descriptions of family are affectionate, and also written with a rare clarity - for this, among many other reasons, this book is a classic.

-David Alston

Haing Ngor Review
What a great story of determination and power. The irony of it all was, that, after all the suffering he went through, he died because of someone trying to steal his watch.

The Khmer Rouge seemed to be illeterates governing a country, and the result wasn't good. I cannot believe they inflicted the pain they did on their very own race. In the 20th century, creating an equal society was UNREAL. The Khmer Rouge, some men, most of them teenagers with guns, did not realise this. Even more surprisingly, as strict as the Khmer Rouge were, the Khmer officials got as much food and commodities as they wanted, while they fed the rest of cambodia a watery rice.

The ending left me thinking, especially about his niece Sophia. Haing Ngor, had lost everything by then, but gained fame. Which really at the time, wasn't much to him. I recommend the reader to buy this book as not only is it interesting and very hard to put the book down once you start, but its historical accuracy and the amazing events described are unbelievable. Anyone over the age of 16 who reads this book will love it, and for a variety of reasons. ... Read more

Product Description
When American and South Vietnamese forces, led by General Creighton Abrams, launched an attack into neutral Cambodia in 1970, the invasion ignited a firestorm of violent antiwar protests throughout the United States, dealing yet another blow to Nixon's troubled presidency. But, as John Shaw shows, the campaign also proved to be a major military success.

Most histories of the Vietnam War either give the Cambodian invasion short shrift or merely criticize it for its political fallout, thus neglecting one of the campaign's key dimensions. Approaching the subject from a distinctly military perspective, Shaw shows how this carefully planned and executed offensive provided essential support for Nixon's "decent interval" and "peace with honor" strategies-by eliminating North Vietnamese sanctuaries and supply bases located less than a hundred miles from Saigon and by pushing Communist troops off the Vietnamese border.

Despite the political cloud under which the operation was conducted, Shaw argues that it was not only the best of available choices but one of the most successful operations of the entire war, sustaining light casualties while protecting American troop withdrawal and buying time for Nixon's pacification and "Vietnamization" strategies. He also shows how the United States took full advantage of fortuitous events, such as the overthrow of Cambodia's Prince Sihanouk, the redeployment of North Vietnamese forces, and the late arrival of spring monsoons.

Although critics of the operation have protested that the North Vietnamese never did attack out of Cambodia, Shaw makes a persuasive case that the near-border threat was very real and imminent. In the end, he contends, the campaign effectively precluded any major North Vietnamese military operations for over a year.

Based on exhaustive research and a deep analysis of the invasion's objectives, planning, organization, and operations, Shaw's shrewd study encourages a newfound respect for one of America's genuine military successes during the war.

This book is part of the Modern War Studies series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Some good material, some seriously dodgy errors
This book covers an important aspect of Cambodian history but does so rather ineffectively.It is even less effective in elucidating the events of the Vietnam war.This Shaw is enough to make Shawcross very cross! Excellent piece of revisionist history and this does a disservice to the Vietnamese people on both sides of the conflict. The understanding of the role the Vietnamese played in this period is limited, but more seriously there is a complete lack of understanding of Cambodian history - it is almost as if the Cambodians were irrelevant to the situation, no more than inconvenient collateral damage. The book should have had rather more editorial work to weed out some astoundingly obvious errors (to take just one example - the repeated claim that Sihanoukville was renamed Kamong Speu - a very quick glance at a map would be enough to show that this was Kampong Soum - not actually an easy mistake to make for someone purporting to know the area. Deeply unsatisfying book which had the opportunity at this distance from events to open up some real actual analysis but failed.

The most successful military operation of the Vietnam War?
This is an excerpt of a book review published in Proceedings Magazine, March 2006

In 1985, former President Richard Nixon called the Cambodia incursion "the most successful military operation of the Vietnam War." Tell that to the veterans of the Ia Drang Valley, Khe Sanh, and Hue City. So why haven't we heard more about this offensive? According to historian John M. Shaw who taught in the history departments at West Point and the U.S. Air Force Academy, the decision to invade Cambodia decidedly stirred the antiwar movement and galvanized Congress. Its military lessons were lost.

Shaw looks at the soldiers by comparing the backgrounds of young ARVN leaders to their American counterparts, the former much weaker administratively because they were "shortchanged in their former professional military education and staff time at higher levels." Corruption, inept leadership, and poor pay plagued the ARVN.

As do a number of American historians, Shaw harshly criticizes the South Vietnamese leadership and society in general. "They were neither as unified nor as zealous as their counterparts to the north." He believes that the successful Cambodian invasion saved American and South Vietnamese lives. More importantly, it bought time for the pacification program championed by General Creighton Abrams Jr., the U.S. commander in Vietnam. He concludes that President Nixon chose the best course of action at the time.

Yet Army General Bruce Palmer countered after the war that "Cambodia eventually resulted in a drastic diminution in the U.S. military advisory effort and military aid for South Vietnam. . . the most damaging blow of all for Saigon."

same old same old
I did not complete this book so I cannot say how bad it is but just glancing at the first few chapters and the aftermath analysis, I noticed several glaring errors and faulty analysis that turn me off from completing the whole book. For instance, the author claimed that the NVA did not used Cambodia to attacked South Vietnam from 1969-1970, yet if the author have read MACV documents for that period he should have known that the South Vietnamese were forced to moved several outposts and camps away from the Cambodia-Vietnam border such as Bu Prang and Duc Lap in 1969 due to constant NVA artillery attacks from Cambodia.During the battles at Tay Ninh and Trang Bang in 1969 and the Toan Thang offensive in 1970 (before the Cambodian campaign), the NVA troops and materiel did came from Cambodia, so how any "historian" can claimed that the NVA/VC did not use Cambodia to attack South Vietnam from 1969 to 1970 is puzzling.

The author also claimed that general ARVN Do Cao Tri used three several regiments because he did not trust his own division, I have no idea where this author arrived at his analysis. General Tri emphasis was on mobility not holding ground, that is why he use a combination of armor and attached infantry. Also, most ARVN divisions consists of three regiments spread out over several provinces that is why general Tri uses several regiments from different divisions when these regiments have intersect area of operation.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

One of the Greatest Stories of Human Survival and Triumph
Enter into the compelling story of a truly remarkable man, Haing Ngor, living through the Cambodian holocost of the late 1970's under the Khmer Rouge.Be prepared, however, for some of the most gruesome torture that a man could suffer - both physically and mentally.If you have any heart at all, you will be changed by this book.

The story begins with a history of Haing's early life in a peaceful Cambodian existence that would be no more.You see a life that is transformed into that of a frial, hungry, tortured and battered peasant.He has everything physically and materially stripped away from him and only his wife to live for.And the story gets even worse.But, through it all, this man clings to hope and a faith in his God that defies all sense reason.

The story does not end painfully.You will see how this one man's deep scars and loss literally transform him into something greater than what he began as. It is not an easy read, but a very compelling one.

Engrossing, deeply disturbing, yet inspiring...
I'm sorry that it took me so long to find this book, partially because the book is actually entitled "SURVIVING the Killing Fields: The Cambodian Odyssey of Haing S. Ngor" (and after all this time it took only a few days to read it). Aside from that, it's probably the most intense memoir about life under the Khmer Rouge. Also gives thorough insight into the social and political maze that led led to Pol Pot's reign of terror, and what happened to Cambodia afterwards. Ngor also told not only the *deeply* disturbing details of his life as a war slave, but also the difficulties of starting a new life in America. In addition, he clearly portrayed the bizarro-ness of life as a celebrity, as opposed to the life he lived in his homeland. The reader gets a real sense of the isolation he must have felt, even after his successes in America. All this, along with his spiritual beliefs in karma, which helped him explain some of the madness, make this a beautiful and haunting story. By the way, reading this will make you want to see 'The Killing Fields' again, just to see his performance one more time. It's clear that this memoir served in part as a therapeutic device for him personally, but it's also a truly inspiring book for anyone to read. Reading about his journey was weirdly prophetic, bittersweet and sad because ten years after this book was published, Ngor was killed in a senseless act of violence in L.A.

What men must suffer
When I read this book sometime back, I was reading it just to read.As I got into the book I found it hard to put down. I cried, I got angry,I hated HATE. I lost two brothers in this mess! Whose loss is greater. Are we not all equal? What these people went through just to survive was dispicable. We take advantage of life! I fell in love with Haing Ngor, I wish I could have met him and hugged his neck. Not in a sexual way, but as a loving sister. This was the most precious kind of man. He gave of himself in a way we should all be doing.What he went through we could only imagine. To watch babies be ripped out of the wombs of women and to go from rich to poor, to watch your world crumble before your eyes and still have love for your fellow man. I have a respect for all life, we all need to open our eyes and look around. Life is a blessing and we should count ours. I love my country,and our people, but that doesn't mean I can't love others to. Haing S. Ngor was a great man who gave for all countries, and all men. He had a heart of gold. May God forgive us all for the Hate we hold.

how can one do anything but cry?
This book was my first exposure to what had happened in Cambodia. I saw a man go through a typical childhood for his class abnd become a doctor and meet the woman of his dreams. His life was perfect. Then on April 17,1975 it all came crashing down. He and the rest of his family were plunged into some of the worst conditions to ever exist in history. He survived almost his whole family. Then, he had the courage to show the whole world what had happened to his people. Sadly, this man was killed in a "random" murder in his home in LA. We promised the survivors of the Holocaust that we'd never let it happen again, but we did in Cambodia. Read this book and see why again we must try and keep it from happening ever again.

A man of extraordinary courage
This is an outstanding portrait of a man who survived the barbaric reign of terror of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.Anyone who has seen the movie "The Killing Fields" has a cursory understanding of the Khmer Rouge and their attempt to transform Cambodian society during their control of the country from 1975 to 1979.However, this film omitted most of the astounding atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge as anyone who has visited Tuol Sleng S-21 in Phnom Penh (as I have) can tell you.In this book Dr. Ngor relates his horrifying experiences of life under the Khmer Rouge in detail and in the process educates the reader as to just how horrible an existence it really was.

This book is remarkable because of the detail related by Dr. Ngor and the personal nature of its content.Many Cambodians to this day will not talk about his period in their lives.For many, the mental and physical abuse they suffered during this period was too painful to re-live ever again.As I read this book, I could not help but wonder how Dr. Ngor was able to keep himself together.

Dr. Ngor effectively puts the period of Khmer Rouge rule in historical context by explaining the historical events and forces which led to their capture of the country.These events and forces included the People's Republic of China, North Vietnam, the Vietnam War, the United States, and of course, the C.I.A.

I admire Dr. Ngor for his extraordinary courage, and I regret that I did not have the opportunity to meet him during his lifetime.May he rest in peace. ... Read more