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When The War Was Over: Cambodia And The Khmer Rouge Revolution, Revised Edition
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When The War Was Over: Cambodia And The Khmer Rouge Revolution, Revised Edition description
Elizabeth Becker's When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution is a heart-rending history of modern Cambodia--a state whose people have, in the last 30 years, endured war, political upheaval, international betrayal, and genocide. Beginning with the Khmer Rouge overthrow of the U.S.-backed Lon Nol regime in 1975, Becker examines the historical patterns of violence and authority within Cambodian culture that made the Khmer Rouge's slaughter of close to 2 million people possible. Becker integrates interviews with Cambodian leaders and ordinary citizens with a penetrating analysis of the politics of the cold war and humanitarianism. For example, she follows the story of Mey Komphot, a banker, who, like millions of others, was displaced from his life in Phnom Penh and marched to a labor camp. She also explores how the United States, as well as many states within the United Nations, refused to acknowledge the forced departures and the killing in order to appease China's hunger for punishing Vietnam's 1978 invasion of Cambodia. By contrasting the concerns of states with those of people, Becker shows how the international order has repeatedly betrayed the people of Cambodia. When the War Was Over is more than just an authoritative account of the Cambodian Revolution; Becker's trenchant portrait of the dynamics of power and human suffering serves as a warning about how diplomatic imperatives can blunt the United Nations' ability to preserve human rights and life. --James Highfill |
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When The War Was Over: Cambodia And The Khmer Rouge Revolution, Revised Edition Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Very interesting about Cambodia, partisan about USA
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I should start by saying I do not know nearly enough about Cambodian history to judge the accuracy of this account. That said, it appears entirely plausible and illuminating.
Elizabeth Becker has done an excellent job of steering between the Scylla of explaining away Pol Pot's atrocities to the point of making him sound benign, and the Charibdis of demonizing him to the point of making him incomprehensible. What emerges is a compelling account of how rigid adherence to flawed dogma can transform ideals into horror.
In these days of [[ASIN:0060392452 Stupid White Men ...and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!]] it is refreshing to see a book that helps, rather then hinders, understanding.
The reason I do not give five stars to this book is that the author seems to go out of her way to blame US policy for the Cambodian genocide. Other reviewers claim this is to cover up her own history of denying the genocide was taking place, which sounds plausible, but which I cannot verify.
Since she was writing for a western audience, there is merit in drawing attention to those western actions that seem, in hindsight, to have been mistakes, so that her readers can avoid supporting similar mistakes in the future. Particularly given the author's alleged history, it would have been more honest to have pointed out this motive for what seems a deliberate distortion of history. |
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