Cambodia's Curse

A generation after Pol Pot's regime killed one quarter of the nation's population, Cambodia shows every outward sign of having overcome its devastating history - the streets of Phnom Penh are paved; skyscrapers dot the skyline. But behind this fa#65533;ade lies a country still haunted by its years of terror. In 2008 and 2009, Joel Brinkley - who won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the fall of the Khmer Rouge - returned to Cambodia. He discovered a population in the...
More Description

A generation after Pol Pot's regime killed one quarter of the nation's population, Cambodia shows every outward sign of having overcome its devastating history - the streets of Phnom Penh are paved; skyscrapers dot the skyline. But behind this fa#65533;ade lies a country still haunted by its years of terror.

In 2008 and 2009, Joel Brinkley - who won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the fall of the Khmer Rouge - returned to Cambodia. He discovered a population in the grip of a venal government. He learned that between one third and one half of Cambodians who lived through the Khmer Rouge era suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, and that its afflictions are being passed to the next generation. His extensive close-up reporting in Cambodia's Curse illuminates the country, its people, and the deep historical roots of its modern-day behaviour. This is a devastating and important look at Cambodia today.

'Cambodia's Curse will make you rage and make you grieve. With devastating data, no spin profi les, and poignant anecdotes Joel Brinkley spares no one in his ruthless scrutiny. Corruption has succeeded the Khmer Rouge as torturer and killer. With deep compassion and fury Brinkley makes us once again bear witness.' --Winston Lord, former U.S. ambassador to China and former president of the Council on Foreign Relations

'A saddening, sure-footed analysis of the way that power and corruption operate in Cambodia today. Joel Brinkley never loses sight of the victims. His book is withering, heart-felt, and persuasive.' --David Chandler, professor emeritus, Monash University; author of A History of Cambodia and The Tragedy of Cambodian History

'An excellent ... account of a country whose historic poverty, exacerbated by the Vietnam War, remains remarkably unchanged.' --Kirkus

'A riveting piece of literary reportage.' --Publisher's Weekly

'A heartbreaking but vital status report on a people who deserve far better.' --Booklist

'Brinkley cuts a clear narrative path through the bewildering, cynical politics and violent social life of one of the worlds most brutalized and hard-up countries.' --Foreign Affairs

Joel Brinkley, a professor of journalism at Stanford University, is a twenty-three-year veteran of the New York Times. He has worked in more than fifty nations and writes a nationally syndicated op-ed column on foreign policy. He won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1980 and was twice a finalist for an investigative reporting Pulitzer in the following years. This is his fifth book.