Customer Reviews

Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Twenty-nine essays compiled by Dith Pran, each written by a Cambodian who was still in childhood when Cambodia fell into Pol Pot's hands. Ben Kiernan ties the collection together so well in his introduction: "Children had to work like adults. Adults, given instructions like children, were treated like animals." As Kiernan notes, Pol Pot's efforts to build his twisted revolution on the backs of these children certainly backfired! The accompanying photos of the contributing authors and the details of their successful new lives in America will make any American recognize what a 'promised land' our country still remains. In so many many ways America has failed the Cambodian people, but most of those fortunate few who reached our shores have made successful lives for themselves and their families. The difficulties confronting those who remain in Cambodia today are seemingly insurmountable. As has been said so many times, every Cambodian has a story to tell, and a river of ink could not describe their nation's suffering. Dith Pran has once again served his people proudly with this touching collection.

I read a lot of books Cambodia. This is yet another collection of stories about people who survived the holocaust. My heart is always touched by such stories. These types of books are always similar even though the stories are specific to individuals there are common themes. If you are interested in more personal accounts there are 2 others which I would recommend. "When Broken Glass Floats," and "First They Killed My Father."

This is a good introduction for anyone who wants to learn about life under the Khmer Rouge. The stories may be different, but they all provide a vivid detail of children struggling to survive Pol Pot's regime.

Many texts review the adult experience in the uniquely heinous Pol Pot epoch. The perspective of children as they witness the brutality of what are essentially other children lends a horrific quality to an otherwise corroborative work

This book really moved me. Sometimes the writing was not great, but most of the time I was intrigued by what had happened to these people. The best acount in my mind is the last one, "The Tonle Sap lake massacre. If you are interested in Cambodia, or in tales of survivors, get this book.

These are the collected accounts of children who suffered untold atrocities under the Pol Pot regime such as torture, rape, starvation, beating, and killing. People were buried alive or thrown into a pot and cooked like fish or poultry. Others had their gallbladders and liver removed to serve as meals for the Khmer Rouge.

This is the story of a revolution going haywire and of ruthless men who, in the name of distorted and senseless ideologies, inflicted pain, fear, terror, and death on their countrymen.

Power not backed by strong moral values could only lead to barbarism.

An interesting but horrid book. It tells the reader the Khmer Rouge's atrocities in layman's terms. There are many disturbing, unforgettable images throughout the book. The short accounts, however, quickly begin to go in circles as many of the stories are similar. The education level of the victims' writing, also diminishes from the book. Dith Pran's decision to take the actual written accounts of these refugees proves to be a double-edged sword. Obtaining more accounts of Cambodians, who actually perpetrated in the persecution end of the "Angka Experiment", instead of the ongoing "victim's point of view," would have made this book much better. Also, the obvious lack of editing detracts from the book credibility. Nevertheless, it is difficult to be so judgmentful, considering the subject matter and the horrible experiences all these people faced. I believe Dith Pran left all these essays intact largely to show respect for the all victims. I give it 3 stars because, despite the flaws, it remains a capitvating book based on its truth. Children of Cambodia's Killings Fields is an important book. On a world view, the general public remains largely ignorant of what happened there, and what the mentality of Cambodia was like at the time. It answers a lot of important questions, albiet inefficiently.

This book contains 29 essays in easy to understand language by people who were children during Pol Pot's genocidal Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979. The testimonies written by these survivors tell of extreme suffering and their will to survive. Their piercing accounts are absolutely heart wrenching, but one that needs to be told. If you are not familiar with this human tragedy, I highly recommend educating yourself about this topic. The systematic suffering, humiliation, and death of 2,000,000 Cambodians must not be forgotten.

This is one of the most powerful books I have read. The writing may not be the greatest. After all it is not a novel; it is a composition of the stories of Cambodians that have survived horrendous atrocities. Before we blame the U.S. we must realize that The U.N. and the rest of the world failed to take action as well. Would the public have supported sending troops into a situation similar to Vietnam? Is Burma the next killing field? We still ignore similar circumstances that are occurring as I type this review.

These children's memoirs give a human face to the unacceptable genocide committed by the Red Khmer in Cambodia in the name of a Western totalitarian ideology (Marxism - Leninism), which the top cadres `learned' in western universities (Paris).

As Dith Pran explains in his introduction, children were at the heart of the Red Khmer's fanatical ideological policies. The Red Khmer mounted an all out attack on family life. Children didn't belong anymore to their parents, but to the Red Khmer's ruling organization. Children were deprived of real knowledge of their natural parents.
The aim of the ideologues was to indoctrinate completely all `clean' newborn members of the population in order to build a `Brave New World'.
But the top of the Party themselves contradicted these unnatural and inhuman policies. Ieng Sary (Pol Pot's brother-in-law) put his sons at the helm of the province he controlled, while Ta Mok put all his siblings in high positions in his province. Nepotism at the top was rampant!

As one of the children remarks, the victory of the Red Khmer was positively greeted by the majority of the population, because people wanted `peace at any price'. But afterwards, of course not at any price.
The Red Khmer regime turned into a butchery, an endless slaughtering (clubbing to death, not shooting, because gunshots would have sown panic among the victims in waiting), a genocide through outright executions, overwork, exhaustion, starvation and illnesses. Whole families (women, children and babies) were killed because the rulers feared `revenge'.

But ultimately, the most cynical aspect of this atrocious story is the fact that this regime was supported by the West, because the Red Khmer were an enemy of Vietnam, which was an ally of the USSR. In fact, the Red Khmer mass murderers could escape to an ally of the West, Thailand.

One needs a strong stomach to digest these memories of an ideological and partisan genocide. They are a must read for all those who want to understand who we are and of what mankind is capable of doing when it disposes of unlimited powers.