Synopses & Reviews
A generation after the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia shows every sign of having overcome its history--the streets of Phnom Penh are paved; skyscrapers dot the skyline. But under this faand#231;ade lies a country still haunted by its years of terror.
Joel Brinkley won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting in Cambodia on the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime that killed one quarter of the nation's population during its years in power. In 1992, the world came together to help pull the small nation out of the mire. Cambodia became a United Nations protectorate--the first and only time the UN tried something so ambitious. What did the new, democratically-elected government do with this unprecedented gift?
In 2008 and 2009, Brinkley returned to Cambodia to find out. He discovered a population in the grip of a venal government. He learned that one-third to one-half of Cambodians who lived through the Khmer Rouge era have P.T.S.D.--and 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 behavior.
Review
Kirkus, February 15, 2011
andldquo;An excellentandhellip;account of a country whose historic poverty, exacerbated by the Vietnam War, remains remarkably unchanged.andrdquo;Publishers Weekly
andldquo;A riveting piece of literary reportage.andrdquo;
and#160;Booklistandldquo;A heartbreaking but vital status report on a people who deserve far better.andrdquo;and#160;Foreign Affairs, May/June 2011andldquo;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.andrdquo;
San Francisco Chronicle, April 16, 2011
andldquo;As a young reporter, Brinkley won a Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for his coverage of the Cambodian refugee crisis. Returning to the region 30 years later, Brinkley - now a professor of journalism at Stanford - chose his subject wellandhellip;[he] admirablyandhellip;demonstrates that Hun Sen's administration has been a disaster for many Cambodians.andrdquo;
The Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2011
andldquo;Illuminatingandhellip;Mr. Brinkley won the Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for covering Cambodian refugees, and he weaves the details of the nation's underbelly into a compelling argument, interviewing powerful figures and foreign officials involved in politics, courts, hospitals, land development, forests and schools.andrdquo;
and#160;The American Interest, July/August, 2011andldquo;Compellingandhellip; a revealing tale of delusion and corruption told with considerable panache.andrdquo;
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Synopsis
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist returns to Cambodia thirty years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge to report on the country's struggle to recover from its past
Synopsis
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist describes how Cambodia emerged from the harrowing years when a quarter of its population perished under the Khmer Rouge.
A generation after genocide, Cambodia seemed on the surface to have overcome its history -- the streets of Phnom Penh were paved; skyscrapers dotted the skyline. But under this fa e lies a country still haunted by its years of terror.
Although the international community tried to rebuild Cambodia and introduce democracy in the 1990s, in the country remained in the grip of a venal government. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Joel Brinkley learned that almost a half of Cambodians who lived through the Khmer Rouge era suffered from P.T.S.D. -- and had passed their trauma 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 behavior.
About the Author
Joel Brinkley was a professor of journalism at Stanford University, and twenty-three-year veteran of the New York Times. He worked in more than fifty nations and wrote 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.