Beyond the Killing Fields: Voices of Nine Cambodian Survivors in America (Asian America) [Hardcover]

Usha Welaratna (Author)

Book Description

Series: Asian America | Publication Date: September 1, 1993

This book documents the Cambodian refugee experience through powerful first-person narratives of men, women, and children who survived the holocaust and have begun new lives in America.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Welaratna's book is a study in human persecution, courage, and survival that reaches well beyond Southeast Asia. The detailed personal narratives are told by nine Cambodians who fled their country during Pol Pot's reign of terror and settled in northern California in the early 1980s. Through these stories of the the survivors' ordeal and escape, Welaratna, a native of Sri Lanka, patiently explores the cultural, linguistic, and religious challenges Cambodian refugees face in this country and the long-term impact the violence and turmoil will likely have. There are no comparable texts, although several refugee accounts should be mentioned: John Tenhula's Voices from Southeast Asia ( LJ 10/1/90), Joanna C. Scott's Indochina's Refugees (McFarland, 1989), and Refugees as Immigrants (Rowman & Littlefield, 1989). Welaratna's work is sensitively written and well researched. Recommended for academic, public, and high school libraries.
- Pamela J. Peters, SUNY at Oneonta
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Welaratna’s book is a study in human persecution, courage, and survival that reaches well beyond Southeast Asia. . . . Through these stories of the survivors’ ordeal and escape, Welaratna patiently explores the cultural, linguistic, and religious challenges Cambodian refugees face in this country and the long-term impact the violence and turmoil will likely have. There are no comparable texts . . . and Welaratna’s work is sensitively written and well researched. Recommended for academic, public, and high school libraries.”—Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (September 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804721394
• ISBN-13: 978-0804721394
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #881,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interview-based format powerful., August 30, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Beyond the Killing Fields: Voices of Nine Cambodian Survivors in America (Asian America) (Hardcover)

It is hard for most of us to grasp the magnitude of the abomination perpetrated upon the Cambodian people. The use of the interview-based technique very poignantly relays the individual experience in manner not seen with scholarly historical works