Temples and killing fields, mighty rivers and impenetrable forests, a past filled with glory and decline Cambodia is a land of contrasts. A millennia ago it was an empire at the height of its power, building the vast temple complexes of Angkor. Now, a thousand years later, ravaged by conflict and a genocidal civil war, Cambodia finds itself struggling with democracy, beset by corruption and on the lowest end of the global spectrum of economic wealth.

In this concise and compelling history, John Tully charts Cambodia’s past from the richness of the Angkorean empire, through the dark ages of the 18th and early 19th centuries, the era of French colonialism, independence, the Vietnamese conflict, and the Pol Pot regime to its present day incarnation as a flawed democracy.

Cambodia remains an intriguing enigma to the outside world. With a depressing record of war, famine and invasion that have all threatened to destroy it, Cambodia’s survival is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.