- Paperback: 528 pages
- Publisher: Avalon Publishing Group (5 Dec 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0786713151
- ISBN-13: 978-0786713158
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13.1 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,125,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #98 in Books > History > Countries & Regions > Asia > South East Asia > Cambodia
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
Product Description
Review
"The best book on Cambodia that has ever been published."
Product Description
Nothing has shaped my life as much as surviving the Pol Pot regime. I am a survivor of the Cambodian holocaust. That's who I am," says Haing Ngor. And in his memoir, Survival in the Killing Fields, he tells the gripping and frequently terrifying story of his term in the hell created by the communist Khmer Rouge. Like Dith Pran, the Cambodian doctor and interpreter whom Ngor played in an Oscar-winning performance in The Killing Fields, Ngor lived through the atrocities that the 1984 film portrayed. Like Pran, too, Ngor was a doctor by profession, and he experienced firsthand his country's wretched descent, under the Khmer Rouge, into senseless brutality, slavery, squalor, starvation, and diseaseall of which are recounted in sometimes unimaginable horror in Ngor's poignant memoir. Since the original publication of this searing personal chronicle, Haing Ngor's life has ended with his murder, which has never been satisfactorily solved. In an epilogue written especially for this new edition, Ngor's coauthor, Roger Warner, offers a glimpse into this complex, enigmatic man's last yearsyears that he lived "like his country: scarred, and incapable of fully healing. "
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Dr. Haing Ngor's book on his life is probably the most heart breaking account of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. When I picked it up I literally read it in one go. And so will you. It is an amazingly absorbing story.
Starting off with his childhood, I found it amazing that a teenager as rebellious as Ngor nevertheless makes it into medical school and becomes a doctor working in a Phnom Penh hospital. Whilst he progresses we catch a good feel how quickly Cambodia falls into corruption during the Lon Nol regime. The take-over of the country by the Khmer Rouge in April 1975 was seen by some as a new beginning. It was indeed that, but rather different than people expected and one which still haunts the country today. Dr. Ngor's description of life under the Khmer Rouge makes every movie made on the subject a very polite first try. I think one should read all of it including the three bits Dr. Ngor suggests one (perhaps) shouldn't. Fleeing the country in 1979 to Thailand and then the USA, Dr. Ngor survives the killing fields. In the US he climbs to Hollywood success almost by chance. Dr. Ngor's life story is not a singular experience - everyone who survived the killing fields has a story to tell - but perhaps his was noted more than others' because of his Hollywood fame.
This book is a must for everyone interest in this part of Cambodian history.
Starting off with his childhood, I found it amazing that a teenager as rebellious as Ngor nevertheless makes it into medical school and becomes a doctor working in a Phnom Penh hospital. Whilst he progresses we catch a good feel how quickly Cambodia falls into corruption during the Lon Nol regime. The take-over of the country by the Khmer Rouge in April 1975 was seen by some as a new beginning. It was indeed that, but rather different than people expected and one which still haunts the country today. Dr. Ngor's description of life under the Khmer Rouge makes every movie made on the subject a very polite first try. I think one should read all of it including the three bits Dr. Ngor suggests one (perhaps) shouldn't. Fleeing the country in 1979 to Thailand and then the USA, Dr. Ngor survives the killing fields. In the US he climbs to Hollywood success almost by chance. Dr. Ngor's life story is not a singular experience - everyone who survived the killing fields has a story to tell - but perhaps his was noted more than others' because of his Hollywood fame.
This book is a must for everyone interest in this part of Cambodian history.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have never been so gripped by a book and so emotionaly attached. Probably the first book to move me to tears. An incredible and heart renching story of an easy going doctor and his wife as they are moved from their easy lives under the corrupt yet peaceful regime of King Sihanok, to the disasterous communist ideals under the Khmer rouge, to Thailand to Hollywood and fame. Graphic details of torture, conspiracy and a great account of human behaviour under unimaginable pressures of a crazy regime are highlighted here. I was hooked from the introduction till the last word. Its probably the best book i have read.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a superb book. Moving, traumatic, and totally absorbing. I could not put it down. This book takes you on a journey from the early childhood of Haing Ngor, through his teenage and early adult life and into the trauma of life under the Khymer Rouge, both on a very personal level, but also how a simple and beautiful way of life was torn apart by outside influences and foreign powers. Thought provoking, emotional and first class. One of the best books I have read.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Survival in the Killing Fields
A near-unbearable account of how Haing Ngor survived the Pol Pot regime. I wept constantly while reading it. Read more
Published 19 days ago by Dave Coleman
surviving the killing fields
If you have seen the film, you must read this book. Written by Dr.Ngor Haing (who played Dith Pran in the movie), his story is incredible and extremly moving. Get it!
Published 9 months ago by boswell
A stunning and traumatic account of one of the 20th centurys greatest...
Survival in the Killing Fields is a very well written account of the events leading up to the 1975 takeover of Cambodia by the Khymer Rouge. Read more
Published 12 months ago by R. Carter
Brilliant.
This book puts you there. It is a detailed account of one mans fight. Brilliant. The best on the subject. Buy it.
Published 15 months ago by Chris Knights
It's been stuck in my mind for weeks
It is simply brilliant book not only full of sadness and cruelty, but also containing many facts and primarily a dramatic life story. Read more
Published 20 months ago by HonzaP
Fantastic
Simply one of the best books i have ever read. The most important thing for me was the honesty of the author, because some of the story does not put him in a good light. Read more
Published 22 months ago by 090135aub4eva
Fantastic
Buy it, the best book I have ever read on the subject, if you are interested in Cambodia and the killing fields, this is one eye witness account you cannot miss, loved it couldn't... Read more
Published on 15 Dec 2009 by Steven Elsender
An introduction to Hell
From page one we see that this writer has had a hard life and now he has to survive. from leaving a soldier in his care to die on the operating table, to his rather unlucky death... Read more
Published on 20 July 2009 by Mr. Colin A. Jacobs
Great book
Well written and educational. It is a good way of putting yourself in the shoes of people that were there during the Khmer Rouge regime. Haing S. Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2009 by J. D. T. Noot
simply amazing
i've never read anthing that has come near to this book. it's a real page turner.
Published on 19 Mar 2009 by seven laws
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Film, Television & Music
- Books > Biography > Historical
- Books > History > Countries & Regions > Asia > China
- Books > History > Countries & Regions > Asia > East Asia
- Books > History > Countries & Regions > Asia > South East Asia > Cambodia
- Books > History > World History
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
