Khmer [Paperback]

Thierry Zephir (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

The Khmer Empire of Cambodia which flourished from the 9th to the 15th century, gave birth to some of the world's richest works of art and architecture. At its peak in the 12th century, during the reigns of Suryavarman II and the Buddhist King Jayavarman VII, Kmer civilization extended throughout continental Southeast Asia and culminated in the construction of the magnificent temple of Angkor Wat, the city of Angkor Thom and the temple of the Bayon. This is an account of that empire, which gave birth to some of the world's richest works of art and architecture.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810928531
• ISBN-13: 978-0810928534
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,378,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful History, April 30, 2000

By 

Craig Stuart - See all my reviews

This review is from: Khmer (Paperback)

This book is a wonderful companion on a trip to Angkor Wat, in Cambodia. It makes excellent use of a wide variety of historical anecdotes and images to convey a sense of the feeling of rediscovery of Angkor temples in in the early 20th century.

The production quality is also quite high, with glossy reproductions of color drawings of the temples. This book is not a mainly a text explanation of the temples at Angkor, nor is it a primary guide for a visit there. But with its images and written history of the temples, it describes the history of Angkor as a wonder of the world, and places the temples in the context of archaeology and travel. And it includes numerous cool little details about for the curious traveler, that more scholarly works would leave out.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ancient Khmer Civilization of Angkor, June 3, 2001

By 

Kean Chhay Chang (Vic, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Khmer (Paperback)

Wonderful small little book that contains information about the origins of Angkor that once the ancient Khmer former capital from the 9th-15 century A.D. The book contains wonderful photographs from old photo archives and some from art galleries. Those who have help to make this book have gone to extraordinary lengths to get the right details as well has translations from steles and inscriptions praising the great works the ancient powerful god kings of many centuries ago. This is rare because most books on Angkor that I have read don't usually have translations or excerpts of inscriptions whatso ever. Seeing the photos of temples and ruins buried in the jungle for centuries is enough to make me want to understand more about the Khmers and their ancient civilization of centuries ago. What has happened to their art which is still a question of who owns it since there temples are plundered for their wonderful carvings of stone etc... Yet the book is great to have small and easy to read and talks about royal powerful from the founder of Angkor right through to the classical age which was the height of it's power in the 12th century A.D. with the famous construction of Angkor Wat the symbol to the Khmer people of the past and present through to the decline and instability of Angkor during the last few decades before it was abandoned. With wonderful photographs and drawings, maps and artifacts this book is just one of the many great books published about Angkor.

4.0 out of 5 stars if history could be swallowed like a pill...., January 2, 2009

By 

Robert S. Newman "Bob Newman" (Marblehead, Massachusetts USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

I've always liked those National Geographic maps and charts which resemble three ring circuses--several things are going on on each page or in each corner. There are so many things to explore, you feel a sense of discovery while still curled up on your sofa. This small book is like that--loaded with good photographs, a few (perhaps too few) maps, and insets of all kinds. The text is probably on the slight side, but if you read and absorb what the author writes, you will come away with a good grounding in the Khmer empire of the period 800-1400. Always strongly influenced by India, the Khmer civilization came and went, like Pharaonic Egypt, without any ongoing influence in the world today. The Cambodians of our times preserve the architectural heritage of their ancestors, but their culture is different. A reader may find out about the great kings, the organization of their kingdom, and peruse some interesting excerpts from Zhou Daguan, a Chinese traveler of the 13th century; George Coedes, a French scholar of Southeast Asian history, and Bernard Groslier, the last French curator of Angkor and an art historian. There are many other, more scholarly books on the Khmers, Angkor, and Southeast Asian history, but if you want a relatively painless introduction with a lot of basic facts, you should give this one a try. I thought that it was like a kind of pill to be swallowed. After a short time, you know something about Southeast Asia ! However, despite the title, you will discover that neither Angkor nor Cambodia were ever lost. The Europeans didn't know about the temples and palaces in the jungle, but Cambodians did. Another myth crumbles. Oh, well.