Product Description

Best known for his academt award-winning role as Dith Pran in "The Killing Fields", for Haing Ngor his greatest performance was not in Hollywood but in the rice paddies and labour camps of war-torn Cambodia. Here, in his memoir of life under the Khmer Rouge, is a searing account of a country's descent into hell. His was a world of war slaves and execution squads, of senseless brutality and mind-numbing torture; where families ceased to be and only a very special love could soar above the squalor, starvation and disease. An eyewitness account of the real killing fields by an extraordinary survivor, this book is a reminder of the horrors of war - and a testament to the enduring human spirit.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3427 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Haing Ngor survived labour camp, torture and near death, before his escape to America. A champion for the cause of Cambodian refugees, he was murdered by street robbers in LA in 1996. Roger Warner, his friend and co-writer, writes extensively on foreign affairs.

Customer Reviews

Outstanding yet terrifying
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.

Review of Survival in the Killing Fields
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.

gripping
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.