World without genocide recommends the following books to increase your understanding of the politics of genocide in the world. This led to the death of over 700,000 cambodians by the united states alone. My new book, song for an approaching storm, is set in the 50s, two decades before the catastrophe. Author recounts horror of cambodian genocide, desire to survive. The khmer rouge won the war, establishing a communist revolutionary. Much of the human remains found among the killing fields have been cleaned and preserved in an effort to pay homage to the lives lost during this violent time in cambodias history. Part of what happened to cambodia was richard nixon. In 20, cambodian prime minister hun sen unanimously passed legislation that prohibits the denial of the cambodian genocide and other war crimes committed by the khmer rouge. List of books and articles about genocide in cambodia. All political and civil rights were abolished and children were forcibly removed from family members, as the parental authority figure was now the khmer rouge. The book is a comprehensive telling of the events leading to genocide and the. About 100 pages of the book are devoted to the war between the khmer communists kc, which included the rabid khmer rouge, khmer viet minh and royal sihanoukists, and the lon nol led.
Children of cambodias killing fields the new york times. The cambodian genocide is one of the most horrible and saddest genocide to date spanning form 19751978. The people of cambodia had to live in fear, knowing that they might be the next one dragged out to the killing fields. A group known as the khmer rouge joined forces behind the recently deposed prince sihanouk and civil war erupted within cambodias own borders.
These disputes readily became armed contests characterized by shifting alliances, regional struggles for dominance including the us, soviet union, china and vietnam, and cambodian efforts to assert different varieties. During the usvietnam conflict, north vietnam created supply corridors down to south vietnam through laos and cambodia, which since they were outside of both north vietnam and south vietnam, in. From the mid 1950s to the mid 1960s, the war took the form of mafia violence, as marauding groups sought economic gain. Apr 14, 2005 when the khmer rouge victoriously entered phnom penh 30 years ago, many people greeted the rebels with a cautious optimism, weary from five years of civil war that had torn apart their lives and. Cambodian civil war the secret bombing of cambodia. The united states refused to call the cambodian genocide a genocide, and had refused to approve capturing and holding a trial for pol pot, until 1997, after vietnam withdrew from cambodia, because the u. The bombing and civil war had reduced the capacity for growing food to such a level that the sources close to the u. By the mid1960s, sihanouks delicate balancing act was beginning to go awry. Although, with the secret bombing of cambodia by nixon, the delicate balance at home of conservatives and communists was disrupted. Mar 17, 2015 cambodiasynonymous with paradoxical ideas. Genocide and democracy in cambodia is an insightful and illuminating look at the real facts behind the emergence of the khmer rouge, their atrocities, their defeat at the hands of the vietnamese and their subsequent supporters in the international community unsc.
If you are going to read one book about rwanda before, during or after your. Aug 07, 2015 the civil war ended when the khmer rouge decisively won, an end that served only as prelude to a more intensive period of targeting civilians detailed in a separate case study. As cambodia gained there independence from france in 1953 the country was controlled by prince sihnaouk. For any scholars of the 2 nd indochina war who still harbour doubts over the genocide, ask yourself whether it is really possible that all of those wellmeaning and often very clever sounding military, political and civil actions somehow all came to inflict damage on the people they were supposed to help or coopt. For 30 long years, from the late 1960s to the late 1990s, the cambodian people suffered from a war that has no name. In march 1970, while prince sihanouk was visiting the soviet union, the national assembly voted to remove him from office as head of state. The conflict was part of the second indochina war 19551975 which also consumed the neighboring kingdom of laos, south vietnam, and north vietnam individually referred to as the laotian civil war and the vietnam war respectively. The nightmare began in phnom penh, with the end of the cambodian civil war. Confused and hurt, sihanouk traveled to beijing and accepted chinese advice to resist the coup by taking charge of a united front governmentinexile. The similarities between iraq and darfur are remarkable. The outcome is a comprehensive overview of the civil war and genocide in rwanda and one that speaks to several key points of controversy among experts on the. Books on the bosnian war of the 1990s score a book s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book. Historical background and conflict cambodian genocide. The khmer rouge captured phnom penh on april 17, 1975, ending a five year long civil war against the khmer republic and beginning the brutal reign of pol pot.
The war lasted for 14 years, and the vietnamese took over cambodia and overthrew the khmer rouge. Prior to this development, sihanouk had allowed north koreans to utilize cambodian ports. Soleauthored books in order of publication for edited works, see. Good books and films about the cambodian genocide orange. In 1995, the mass genocide that took place in cambodia was brought to the forefront of everyones minds when mass graves were discovered. Vietnam plays a particularly complex role in the cambodian genocide as its own civil war conflicts prompted its presence in nearby cambodia.
I can still remember how overwhelmed with joy i was that the war had finally ended. In strength in what remains, tracy kidder tells the story of a. A defensive civil war and the assassination of a president created a feeling of acute. The chances of being chosen were indeed high by the end of the massacre, the khmer rouge had wiped out nearly 25 percent of the population. Between 1965 and 1973, the expansion of the vietnam war into cambodia aggravated and radicalized internal cambodian political disputes.
David chandler, one of the foremost western scholars on cambodian historyand author of the first study of s21, the khmer rouge interrogation centrerecommends the best books on cambodia. A timeline of the khmer rouge regime and its aftermath. This is a bibliography for primary sources, books and articles on the personal and general accounts, and the accountabilities, of the 1994 rwandan genocide. The cambodian civil war rocked southeast asia from roughly 1970 to 1975. Opposition from both groups grew as they both planned to overthrow sihanouk and reverse cambodian neutrality, by either aligning with the north vietnamese or with the united states. Regionally, the presence of largescale north vietnamese and viet cong logistical bases on. Lessons from killing fields of cambodia 30 years on. The cambodian civil war led to the cambodian genocide, one of the bloodiest in history. Many children and people from the camps fled and tried to cross the country and get to thailand. In 1975 the khmer rouge won the civil war and gained power in cambodia.
Congo, the rwandan genocide, and the making of a continental catastrophe by. Jun 01, 2017 words can cause war if the cpp loses patience and goes to your homes and burns down your homes, said hun sen, a former commander in the khmer rouge that committed genocide in the late 1970s. The civil war had tired us out, and we could not make much sense out of killing our own brothers and. Despite what conboys book title says the emphasis of this book is on post khmer republic intrigue and war making up to the demise of the khmer rouge around 1998. Coding this case is coded as ending by strategic shift, when the u. World at war series 1974 a new germany, genocide produced by jeremy isaacs thames television, 52 minutes each. Thailand was filled with refugee camps for the many people who fled there. Cambodias hun sen warns of civil war as election looms.
Informative and beautifully written, beckers book humanizes the tragedy of cambodia without ever losing sight of its context. On the nonfiction books that helped one reader labeled a secondgeneration refugee connect to his father, a khmer who survived the cambodian genocide. A landmark in the historiography of the rwandan genocide. He picks the best memoirs of the armenian genocide. Each book in the online catalogue is assigned one or more subject heading to describe the subject content of the book. Although the term genocide was first coined in 1944, the crime itself has been committed often in history. If you intend to read only one book about cambodia, read this one. The best books on memoirs of the armenian genocide five. Lon nol subsequently took control of the government. Aug 03, 2012 during the ensuing civil war between the conservative and liberal parties, 200,000 people were killed. Human rights, war has no winners, plight of a nation, cambodia and vietnam, books that punch life and happiness in the gut, and make the re. The khmer rouge took power at the end of the cambodian civil war and were only toppled after the invasion of cambodia by the neighbouring socialist republic of vietnam in the cambodianvietnamese war.
Pulitzer prizewinning journalist, sydney schanberg, famous for his reporting on the war in cambodia, told cnn in an interview, you knew that they the khmer rouge were different, all. Pearl of the east, war, kingdom of wonder, genocide, and land of smileswhere deep and irrevocable truths hide behind such broad and overused concepts, standing in the way of reconciliation for a people who are struggling to come to terms with the past and find a way to rebuild, restore, and live again. While this civil war was going on, the vietnam war was happening right next door. An excellent source for titles related to cambodia is monument books. A daughter of cambodia remembers by loung ung, never fall down by patricia mccormick, stay ali. The two have enabled me to spend years in cambodia, both in the past and the present. Congo, the rwandan genocide, and the making of a continental catastrophe. When the war was over by elizabeth becker simon and schuster, 1986. The cambodian civil war was a conflict that pitted the forces of the communist party of kampuchea known as the khmer rouge and their allies the democratic republic of vietnam north vietnam and the viet cong against the government forces of cambodia after october 1970, the khmer republic, which were supported by the united states u. Strauss writing is lucid, the structure of the book is well thought out, and jargon. We recommend books from many genres history, memoir, fiction, journalists accounts, diaries, essays and historical fiction.
The vietnam war spilled across the vietnamcambodia border, sihanouk swore revenge, and a new civil war tore cambodia apart. The cambodian civil war was a conflict from 19671975, primarily between the communist khmer rouge and the cambodian government. The first step in genocide prevention is to learn about genocides, past and present. In february of 1969 america started to bomb cambodia in secret. The cambodian civil war started as a rebellion in samlot in 1967, but the main period was from 1970 till 1975. It ended with the rise of brutal dictators and one of the worst genocides in asian history.
The book shows how fine the line has been, in modern history, between degenerate. Because of this, the united states bombed alleged viet cong clusters within cambodia. This volume builds on our understanding of genocide in cambodia and rwanda by bringing new issues, sources, and approaches into focus. Kidders book is the story of a young medical student from burundi who barely survives the civil war and genocide during which many members of. Americans killed over 750,000 cambodians in the effort to destroy the north vietnamese. They are having a hard time surviving the peace after they survived the war. War genocide children young adult book lists research. An indispensible work for understanding the links between war, genocide and. Between 1970 and 1973, during the vietnam war, the united states bombed much of the countryside of cambodia and manipulated cambodian politics to support the rise of prowest lon nol as the leader of cambodia. It is estimated that over 150,000 cambodians died in the civil war, most of them civilians. The best books on cambodia five books expert recommendations. The most destructive period was from 194853 when 50,000 people died. Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers.
The chapters in this book are grouped so that a single theme degreess explored in both the cambodian and rwandan contexts. Lester and sue smith campus 5401 caroline houston, tx 77004 map 7 9428000 fax. Surviving the cambodian genocide the memoirs of mac and simone leng is important reading for every american. Arguing that this series of hostilities, which included both civil and external war, amounted to one long conflictthe thirty years war craig etcheson demonstrates that there was one constant, churning presence that drove that. Scott straus finds, by the combined effects of an ongoing civil war, high levels of. Due to the large numbers, the deaths during the rule of the khmer rouge are commonly known as the cambodian genocide.
35 1386 958 61 754 1639 237 122 493 1092 1026 350 171 1351 1504 986 1677 1212 1363 117 545 614 968 258 255 1215 1631 1391 1441 1249 1045 1367 402 1332 442 891 809 367 1460 1342 1079 397 718 953 958 153 203