The Pol Pot Regime

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Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79
Third Edition

Ben Kiernan

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This edition of Ben Kiernan’s definitive account of the Cambodian revolution and genocide includes a new preface that takes the story up to 2008 and the UN-sponsored Khmer Rouge tribunal.

“Deeply detailed, meticulously reported. . . . Important [and] valuable.” —Nation

"In this authoritative work, Ben Kiernan . . . explores the reasons why Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge revolution became a Cambodian nightmare." —Richard Gough, Times Higher Education Supplement

“Perhaps the most complete [account of Pol Pot’s terror] and the closest to Cambodian sources.” —Economist

“One of the most important contributions to the subject so far.” —R. B. Smith, Asian Affairs

"Kiernan, the leading authority on modern Cambodia, meticulously examines Pol Pot's killing machine and clears up many misconceptions found in earlier studies. . . . An important book for students of genocide as well as scholars of Southeast Asia." —Library Journal

"[A] detailed and chilling history." —Asiaweek

"The most detailed history to date of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. . . . This book . . . will certainly be the benchmark against which all future research on the Khmer Rouge must be measured. Very highly recommended." —Choice

Ben Kiernan is the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History, professor of international and area studies, and the founding director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University (www.yale.edu/gsp). His other books include Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur and How Pol Pot Came to Power: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Communism in Cambodia, 1930–1975, published by Yale University Press.

"A very important addition to our knowledge of a regime about which we have had all too little reliable information. Unusually rich in detail, the book is filled with unique data that are objectively assessed and analyzed."—George McT. Kahin, Cornell University

"The story of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge is as chilling, insane and incredible as that of any genocide in history. . . .A deeply detailed, meticulously reported history. . . .Important, valuable and worth reading. . . . Kiernan documents the killing with impressive specificity, using interviews with survivors to escort the reader to every part of the country. . . . The testimony and documentation Kiernan amasses is quite powerful. . . .This is after all a work of scholarship that will be one of the most widely used reference books on the Cambodian tragedy. While legions of Western scholars have devoted themselves to the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany, very few have made it their mission to look into the depths of the genocides that occur in little countries, far away in the Third World. Ben Kiernan has done this for Cambodia."—Sydney H. Schanberg, Nation

"Kiernan, author of nearly a dozen studies of Cambodian history, documents the appalling extent of the Cambodian catastrophe; the signifigant internal resistance to the Khmer Rouge and the racialist and totalitarian attitudes by which Pol Pot's regime justified the death, by starvation adn disease as well as torture and murder, of some 1.5 million of their 8 million countrymen. . . . An essential acquisition." -Booklist

"Nobody reading this detailed and chilling history would accuse the author of being an apologist for that regime."—Asiaweek

"On the nature of Pol Pot's terror, Mr. Kiernan's new book is clear. He quotes survivors about how they were uprooted from their homes, sent on marches to the countryside, imprisoned, and tortured. Many of the survivors describe how entire families were killed. . . . Mr. Kiernan also quotes extensively from Khmer Rouge documents, some of which he uncovered. Records from the Ministry of Trade, for example, show that Cambodia gained foreign funds by killing wildlife. Tiger skins and the bones of tigers, elephants, and monkeys were sold to China."—Chronicle of Higher Education

"The most comprehensive analysis of Khmer Rouge war crimes yet."—Yale Daily News

"Ben Kiernan's first book focused on Pol Pot's rise to power. In this long awaited sequel, Kiernan describes what happened once Pol Pot was in power, from 1975 to 1979. Its strength lies in its wealth of detailed information, most of it gathered through his hundreds of interviews; and in the patience with which he has fitted it together to give a clear overview of a period as bewildering as it was brutal. . . . This book embodies . . . massive, lucidly presented research. . . . No other writer has listened to so many Cambodians describe what they did, and what was done to them, in those four years. Everyone who wants to understand what actually happened under the Pol Pot regime must read Kiernan's exhaustive, absorbing and thoroughly depressing account."—Kelvin Rowley, Asia-Pacific Magazine

"Kiernan has compiled an invaluable record of the workings of a political phenomenon of our century, a materialistic idealogy applied to the enslavement of a people." -Simon Scott Plummer, Tablet

"Making effective use of the new information that continues to surface, Kiernan weaves a convincing history of the regime and its impact on Cambodian society. . . . Kiernan continues to lead scholarly research on that country. This is the first to attempt to link the dynamics of power, race, and economics in Democratic Kampuchea. Written in a scholarly format, The Pol Pot Regime would prove to be an excellent source for those wishing to research this period in Cambodian history."—Jeffrey M. Chwieroth, History

"In this authoritative work, Ben Kiernan . . . explores the reasons why Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge revolution became a Cambodian nightmare."—Richard Gough, Times Higher Education Supplement

"This is not the first account of Pol Pot's terror. . . . But Mr. Kiernan's is perhaps the most complete and the closest to Cambodian sources."—The Economist

"Definitive." -London Review of Books

"Impressively researched and deeply disturbing."—Sunday Telegraph

"One of the most important contributions to the subject so far, and one which neither specialist scholars nor general readers can afford to ignore." -R.B. Smith, Asian Affairs

"A crucial contribution to the existing historical literature on the subject."—Hélène Lambert, International Affairs

"By far the best documented account of the Pol Pot regime."—Chris Farley, Race and Class

"This important book thoroughly documents what happened and plausibly explains why. In all probability it will remain the definitive work on the subject for many years. Ben Kiernan is widely acknowledged to be one of the most outstanding scholars on the subject of 20th century Cambodia. His research was based upon previously untapped sources such as documents from the Pol Pot regime and over five hundred interviews with defectors, officials, and survivors of the calamity. . . . Readers will certainly emerge with a deeper understanding of one of the century's worst disasters." -Paul G. Conway, Asian Thought and Society

"Kiernan's book is by far the most detailed history of the Khmer Rouge revolution that this reader has yet to come across. It provides extensive biographical information on all of the major participants in this historical 'event', granting new insights into the mind of the Khmer Rouge and its victims. . . . Kiernan's book not only offers a useful case study for comparative historians of twentieth century revolution, genocide, and nationalism, but also offers an ominous background to the Khmer Rouge, who once again have a clear presence in the new Cambodia."—Michael W. Charney, International Quarterly for Asian Studies

"The most detailed history to date of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. . . . This book, written at an advanced level, will certainly be the benchmark against which all future research on the Khmer Rouge must be measured. Very highly recommended."—Choice

This is a powerful book, well presented with good maps and photographs. . . . For anyone interested in Cambodia, this is, as they say, required reading." -Martin Stuart-Fox, Australian Journal of Politics and History

ISBN: 9780300144345
Publication Date: August 19, 2008

544 pages, 5 x 7.75

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The Pol Pot Regime

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Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79Third Edition

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Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79
Third Edition