After the Killing Fields: Lessons from the Cambodian Genocide (Modern Southeast Asia Series) [Paperback]

Craig Etcheson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2006 | Series: Modern Southeast Asia Series

"In spite of all the hand-wringing over the international community's failures to stop past crimes against humanity, we have not yet developed a consistent approach to the aftermath of these crimes. A sort of 'cottage industry devoted to denying that the Khmer Rouge committed any crimes' has appeared in Cambodia, as Craig Etcheson explains in After the Killing Fields, and a new generation of Cambodians is growing up in a society where perpetrators of unbelievable evil walk free."—Times Literary Supplement "Craig Etcheson is well known internationally as an expert dedicated to documenting the bitter harvest of the Khmer Rouge's grip on the Cambodian people, 1975-1978, and to evaluating its enduring aftermath. . . . After the Killing Fields is a thorough insider's description of the Documentation Center of Cambodia's valuable work. More importantly, the book probes the culture of impunity and enhances our understanding of this extraordinarily complex issue. It is a major contribution to genocide studies, as well as an eloquent tribute to the Cambodians who suffered under the Khmer Rouge."—Frederick Z. Brown, H-Genocide New findings show that the death toll from the Cambodian genocide was approximately 2.2 million—about a half million higher than commonly believed. Despite regular denials from the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge, in After the Killing Fields Craig Etcheson demonstrates not only that they were aware of the mass killings, but that they personally managed and directed them. This book details the work of Yale University’s Cambodian Genocide Program, which laid the evidentiary basis for the forthcoming Khmer Rouge Tribunal. The book also presents the information collected through the Mass Grave Mapping Project of the Documentation Center of Cambodia and reveals that the pattern of killing was relatively uniform throughout the country. Detailing the struggle to come to terms with what happened in Cambodia, Etcheson concludes that real justice is not merely elusive, but in fact may be impossible, for crimes on the scale of genocide. “After the Killing Fields should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in Cambodia and international law.” —Peter Maguire, author of Facing Death in Cambodia “Etcheson draws on extensive field-work, archival research, and his own analytical skills to bring the horrors of the Khmer Rouge into focus and to make readers aware of the many-faceted, saddening aftermath of that murderous regime.” —David Chandler, author of Voices from S-21: Terror and History in Pol Pot’s Secret Prison

Editorial Reviews

Review

"After the Killing Fields is a thorough description of the step-by-step accumulation of evidence of Khmer Rouge crimes."

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Times Literary Supplement

"More than 25 years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, those responsible for genocide and human rights violations in Cambodia have yet to answer for their crimes. Why has justice for the Cambodian people been so elusive? Etcheson argues that a culture of impunity persists in Cambodia, and that national reconciliation and healing will require a properly conducted war crimes tribunal, perhaps overseen by the UN. The author describes the efforts of the Documentation Center of Cambodia in amassing proof that the leaders of the Khmer Rouge ordered mass executions throughout Cambodia during the 1975-79 regime. But the abuses began earlier and continue to the present. Moreover, no one in Cambodia's political elite is completely untainted. Etcheson's historical and legal concerns are intertwined, since the evidence from documents, interviews, and eyewitness accounts, backed up by physical evidence from mass graves, is meant to combat the denial syndrome that is part of Cambodia's tragic and apparently intractable situation. These essays will appeal mainly to specialists in Cambodian political history and international politics, as well as to other readers interested in legal remedies for political violence and genocide. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students/faculty."

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Choice

"^IAfter the Killing Fields: Lessons from the Cambodian Genocide^R is a thorough insider's description of the Documentation Center of Cambodia's valuable work. More importantly, the book probes the culture of impunity and enhances our understanding of this extraordinarily complex issue. It is a major contribution to genocide studies, as well as an eloquent tribute to the Cambodians who suffered under the Khmer Rouge."

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H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online -- H-Genocide

"[E]tcheson's great contribution is his orderly, detailed relating of DC-Cam's postwar research into the organization and location of mass murder as well as international legal efforts to bring surviving perpetrators to account."

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MultiCultural Review

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"How did the Khmer Rouge get away with genocide? Craig Etcheson's After the Killing Fields answers this deceptively simple question. Etcheson has mapped killing fileds, interviewed the killers themselves, and his decades of empirical research in Cambodia have endowed him with refreshing common sense. After the Killing Fieldsshould be mandatory reading for anyone interested in Cambodia and international law."

(

Peter Maguire, author of Law and War: An American Story and Facing Death in Cambodia

) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Texas Tech University Press; 1 edition (June 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896725804
• ISBN-13: 978-0896725805
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #897,031 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique insider's perspective of the Khmer Rouge era, April 5, 2009

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Enjolras (Springfield, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: After the Killing Fields: Lessons from the Cambodian Genocide (Modern Southeast Asia Series) (Paperback)

This book focuses on the long struggle to bring the Khmer Rouge accountable for the auto-genocide that occurred in Cambodia in the late 1970s. Unlike most books on Cambodia, it does not focus on the history of the killings but how different actors in Cambodian society have dealt with the aftermath. It provides a very useful description of the Documentation Center for Cambodia's work collecting information on the killings. The last chapters discuss the politics behind bringing the Khmer Rouge leaders to justice. This is particularly interesting given the fact that the current tribunal has just begun hearings.

Etcheson tells this story as a true insider, as indeed he is. Not only has he been a longstanding advocate for justice for the Khmer Rouge, he now serves with the Khmer Rouge Tribunal he helped establish. As such, his writing is tinged with passion for his cause. Well worth the read for Cambodia scholars or those interested in seeking justice for mass human rights violations.