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Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare (John MacRae Books) (Hardcover)

by Philip Short (Author) "THE VILLAGE OF Prek Sbauv extends along the east bank of the River Sen, which flows southward from the town of Kompong Thom to the..." (more)
Key Phrases: urban deportees, Phnom Penh, Khmer Rouge, Khmers Rouges (more...)

4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Towards the beginning of this massive biography, Short cautions readers against dismissing the terror of Pol Pot's regime as the incomprehensible work of evil men. Instead, Short argues, the explanations for the Khmer Rouge regime, which resulted in the death of over one-fifth of Cambodia's population, or 1.5 million people, are "rooted in history." The book begins its search for these explanations in the early life of Saloth Sâr, a "mediocre student" whose political disengagement offered no hint of the ideological nightmare he would fashion under the name Pol Pot. As a student in Paris, Sâr's political philosophy slowly began to take shape, and the book deftly follows his political evolution abroad as a part of the "Cercle Marxiste" against the backdrop of the tumultuous history of Cambodia after the war. Short, a former BBC correspondent who has also written an acclaimed biography of Mao Zedong, moves between Sâr's personal story and the broader history with ease. By the time these two narratives converge in the lucid and harrowing description of the Khmer Rouge victory and subsequent evacuation of Phnom Penh city, the book has already laid the groundwork for the horrors that would follow. Occasionally, Short's attempts to understand Pol's psychology lapse into vast over-generalization, as when he attributes Pol's erratic behavior to "the perpetual Khmer tendency to take things to extremes." More often, though, Short expertly identifies the historical and ideological causes that generated the Khmer Rouge impulse to terror and that eventually led to the regime's collapse. Though daunting in length, Short's book offers a copiously well-researched and surprisingly accessible portrait of Pol that will prove indispensable to anyone interested in the subject.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The New Yorker
Pol Pot once remarked that the Cambodian authorities in the nineteen-fifties "knew who I was; but they did not know what I was." Short, in his attempt to explain how a young man known for his bland amiability came to preside over the deaths of a million and a half people, follows the dictator from a childhood spent partly among palace concubines through his student days in Paris (where he read Stalin because Marx was over his head) to his imposition of a "slave state." Short does a good job on the political context of Pol Pot's rise, on his Buddhist influences, and on his gift for subterfuge. He remained almost invisible until the moment he took power. Later, busy killing his aides, he hid a Vietnamese invasion from his Army—then lived on for two decades, drinking whiskey and reading Paris-Match at his jungle base, before dying peacefully in his own bed.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

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Product Details

Hardcover: 560 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; 1st edition (January 13, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0805066624
ISBN-13: 978-0805066623
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 2 inches
Shipping Weight: 2 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #671,236 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
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First Sentence:
THE VILLAGE OF Prek Sbauv extends along the east bank of the River Sen, which flows southward from the town of Kompong Thom to the Great Lake, the Tonle Sap. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
urban deportees

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Phnom Penh, Khmer Rouge, Khmers Rouges, Viet Minh, Lon Nol, Nuon Chea, Central Committee, Son Sen, Eastern Zone, Pol Pot, Viet Cong, Democratic Kampuchea, Hou Yuon, Son Ngoc Thanh, South Vietnam, Vorn Vet, Mey Mann, Hun Sen, Thiounn Mumm, Democratic Party, Zone Secretary, Keng Vannsak, Keo Meas, Son Ngoc Minh, United States

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 17 books:

New York: Elementary - Intermediate (Timesaver) by Denise Kiernan on 6 pages
Decent Interval by Frank Snepp in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
The Prime Minister by Rattan Singh Mann on page 37, and page 261
Independence Day (Best Holiday Books) by Willma Willis Gore on page 55, and page 95
Before Kampuchea: Preludes to Tragedy by Milton Osborne in Back Matter

See all 17 books this book cites

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

The Pol Pot Regime by Professor Ben Kiernan

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China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950-1975 by Qiang Zhai

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Customer Reviews

28 Reviews

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4.1 out of 5 stars (28 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinarily good, February 14, 2005

By	D. C. Carrad "augustabookman" (Augusta, GA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

I approach this review with a background of five years of volunteer work in Cambodia (1995-2000) and marriage into a Khmer family. This is the best book I have yet read on the entire history of the Khmer Rouge years. It is more (fortunately) than a biography of Pol Pot -- it is just as much a history of Cambodia and and examination of its peoples' character, and shorter biographies of other prominent Khmer figures, especially King Sihanouk. The author scrupulously avoids the oversimplifications and falso moralizing of most books about Cambodia -- the ones that say either (1) the Khmer Rouge were entirely America's fault, (2) entirely Nixon's fault, or (3) entirely Kissinger's fault -- choose one. He carefully explores, among other things, American policy toward and conduct in Cambodia in the period leading up to 1975 in a thorough and neutral manner, with interesting suggestions on the significance of this and many other topics. In addition, the author's style is fluid and transparent, and he has done his homework. This is the best book about Cambodia I have ever read, and I have read all the ones I have been able to lay my hands on. Buy it even if you think you have no interest in the subject, or know it too well already -- you will be pleasantly surprised and will enjoy the book immensely.

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48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There is no honor or greaness here, just butchery, February 18, 2005

By	Antonio Nunez (Bogot�, Colombia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Philip Short refers to his book on Mao in his preface to "Pol Pot:Anatomy to a Massacre" and, while acknowledging Mao's extraordinary beastliness (the man was probably responsible for over 50 million deaths) he highlights Mao's pretentions to greatness not unlike Napoleon's or Alexander's. That is not the case with Pol Pot. He did not fight an honorable war against a brutal invader, like Mao did with the Japanese. Instead, he led to his Cambodia's occupation by the hated Vietnamese, who had been his paymasters for a long time. Pol Pot did not succeed in brutally modernizing his country's industry, like Stalin in the Soviet Union or Mao in China. Instead, he pulled it right back into the stone age. Like his worst predecessors in genocide, he never learned from his mistakes. Instead, he kept his habit of ordering executions, a habit which eventually led to his imprisonment by his surviving henchmen (who feared for their lives) and some sort of trial. And his corpse was not preserved like Mao's or Lenin's. Instead, it was burnt with old tires and mattresses.

Short's book would have been very short (and uninteresting) indeed if he had confined himself to Pol Pot. Instead, he wrote a veritable tableau of Cambodian history from WWII to our days. 1950s Cambodia comes across as a Ruritarian kingdom ruled by the beguiling Norodom Sihanouk. Sihanouk is one of history's true survivors (the man is still around!). One would need to look to Mitterrand or Fidel Castro for equivalent types who were able to survive and even thrive in impossible conditions, turning their alliances as they saw fit with no sense of shame. Sihanouk is in a fact a much more attractive character than Pol Pot, who is opaque, a mere cypher in some ways.

Saloth Sar, who would later become Pol Pot, came from what might be regarded as the upper middle class (his sister was a concubine to a Cambodian king- not Norodom), although his family wasn't rich. He was a mediocre student, and in many ways he would be a mediocrity all his life. His strength was his inscrutability. He kept a constant Buddha-like smile, and he never lifted his voice even when ordering the execution of close associates. The Cambodian Communist Party (later known as the Khmer Rouges) was fostered by Vietnamese logistical support, although Pol Pot's career was a long attempt to break free of the control of this "fraternal" party. The Communists' goals were fostered by the incompetent intervention of greater powers, some colonial, like France, some regional like Thailand and Vietnam, some global, like the US, the Soviet Union and China. Virtually all of them (most without realizing it) did their utmost to help Pol Pot reach power and wreck Cambodia. Particularly obtuse was American intervention in helping strongman Lon Nol in overthrowing Sihanouk. This threw the mercurial Sihanouk into Chinese hands and then turned him into Pol Pot's associate, helping to legitimize Khmer Rouge presence among royalist and superstitious peasants.

Short writes that Pol Pot's brutality was purely Cambodian (which should be annoying to all armchair Buddhists in the US and Europe) and that his actions were not caused in any meaningful way by the American intervention. Be that as it may, it is hard to image Cambodia falling to Pol Pot's disorganized hordes if Sihanouk had remained in power. Short also writes that the Khmer's millennial dictatorship, which was much more extreme than anything seem previously, except perhaps the Paris commune in 1870-1871 or M�nster under Jan van Leiden in 1535, was also quite chaotic. Brutality was entirely random and without reason or rhyme. For all Pol Pot's paranoia and total disregard for human niceties, he was unable to turn the Khmer Rouge into a unified iron-clad party, like Stalin did with the Soviets. Even after his brutal purges, the party presence was highly regional. Also, the Khmer's racial policies against the Cham (muslim Cambodians) and the Vietnamese were worthy of Milosevic or Saddam Hussein. Pol Pot truly married the worst in both communist and nazi rules.

Pol Pot's life was unmarred by honor or greatness. Short brings to life the extraordinary circumstances that allowed this ordinary man to unleash the hounds of hell among his countrymen. I only regret that he wasn't tried like a war criminal and hanged from the tallest steeple in Angkor Vat. And some of his associates (like Hun Sen) are still in power.

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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Too much of an apologist, and almost racist, but gripping read nonetheless., August 21, 2005

By	Hiroo Yamagata (Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Of course, this isn't just an account of Pol Pot the person, it necessarily has to be an overview of the dreadful Khmer Rouge. It is, in fact, a very gripping read. 450 pages in couple of days. But the author's conclusions are very disturbing.

THere are several questions that ANY book on Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge must answer, and Short does answer them, but not straightforwardly. Let's take a look at some examples of such questions, and Short's answeres:

1.Why did Khmer Rouge take everything to extreme?

a. Because Khmeres traditionally tend to take everything to extremes.
b. KR leaders were fans of utopian socialists when they studied in Paris, and were trained by head-strong idealist (but really unpractical and incompetent in real life) students in paris. They just caried it out simplistically.
b. Khmeres are notoriously lazy, and they wouldn't work unless they are forced.

2. Why did KR kill so much?

a. Oh, that was not their intention. They just wanted to extract confessions, or to apply strict morale in the party. Everyone just happened to die.
b. Because Khmere tradition holds that people never change, any attempts of re-education was never seriously considered.
c. KR soldiers were completely uncivilized peasants, and they can't handle complicated stuff. Killing is clear and easy. So they did.

3. Why didn't people revolt to such atrocity?

a. It was Khmere Bhuddist tradition to accept desitiny and authority and fate.
b. Khmers didn't have much of a community in the first place, so there were no serious effort
c. Every single power in Cambodia was extremely atrocious, including the ancient Angkor, Sihanouk, Vietnamese, etc. So they were used to it.

You see the problem; Short attributes almost everything to the national tendency or cultural tract of Khmer people. In the epilogue, Short says that you shouldn't make such simplistic connections. But, that's exactly what he does throughout the book. In the opening, he cites an example of a very sophisticated and westernized Cambodian Women. She found out that her husband (high ranking official) had a lover, so she got her caught and poured huge amount of acid on her, quietly enjoying the view. Short says, this mentality, where even a decent amount of western education can't tame the cruel and horrible hatred burning behind, is the key to understanding Khmer Rouge atrocity. After reading, I wasn't quite sure how this relates, but Short's message is clear; it's in their blood.

I do have some sympathy with this view, or at least the lure of such an argument. If you did any business in Cambodia, it'll make you want to scream every day. But I think Short yields too easily to that temptation. I also agree with the Washington Post review above. The book often reads like an apology for Pol Pot, which is disturbing.

However, as mentioned, it's a gripping read, and a very good overview of the Cambodian situation in 1960-1990. The whole thing was so byzantine, it was hard to understand who was sleeping with whom. This book does put you in proper perspective (and it tells you that basically everyone was sleeping with everyone at one time or another). Simplistic views that blame a single bad guy (like the US bombardent was THE cause, or Vietnam was cruel, or this and that) will be thoroughly discredited. It's a depressing read, also. Cambodia was always used as a pawn of international po,itics. China, USA, Vietnam, France, and Sihanouk, all lended hands to Khmer Rouge in a direct manner Sihanouk today pretends that he was innocent; No. His incompetent bloody rule sowed the seeds for many of the things to come. I don't know what anyone at any stage could have done to stop any of this.

But the most frightning part is the lack of depth in Khmere Rouge actions. None of the KR leaders had any practical work experience, much less any ability to plan military operations, build infrastructure, or run a country. As a result, the whole regime simply moves to the most simplistic solution that you could ever devise. For that amount of killing, you'd expect some deep but twisted ideals or conspiracy theories. There aren't any. The whole thing is like a high school play, and its scary.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Your're there
Excellent biography (one of the best I read).

Perfect and magic description of the old Kampuchea, cultural and geographically speaking. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Ljubo

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite Good All Round
"Pol Pot" is a masterful book that comprehensively documents Pol Pots political life from his studies in Paris, to his down fall in the late 90's at the hands of his disgruntled,... Read more

Published 7 months ago by The Old Wise Man

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Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare
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This study deserves to be another documented remainder of the practical and , unfortunately , logical consequences of... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Toninozagar

4.0 out of 5 stars The biography of Brother Number One and Cambodia.
As some of the previous reviewers have already stated, this is not your typical biography. Short shows the life of Pol Pot and the history of Cambodia at the same time. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Kevin M Quigg

3.0 out of 5 stars Yawn
I am sorry but this book was boring. I think it took a special kind of writer to make something as seemingly interesting/horrific as the Khmer Rouge so dull. Read more

Published on February 3, 2007 by Hoke

3.0 out of 5 stars Better History Than Biography
I read this book knowing virtually nothing of Pol Pot or the history of the Cambodian revolutionary movement. Read more

Published on September 20, 2006 by Peter D. Couch

5.0 out of 5 stars A sober look at one of the 20th century's deadliest regimes
Those looking for a biography of Saloth Sar (aka Pol Pot) may be surprised to find that this is not so much a chronicle of Pol's life, but rather a thorough account of Cambodian... Read more

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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Pol Pot was the ruler of the Khmer Rouge and the Prime Minister of Cambodia from 1976 to 1979. He was the de facto leader since mid-1970s. Read more

Published on March 13, 2006 by grouchy

5.0 out of 5 stars Mass Murder in a Slave State
It may be impossible to explain why Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge government caused the deaths of more than one million -- possibly two million --Cambodians during their 4 year rule... Read more

Published on December 28, 2005 by Smallchief

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