---
product_id: 4708757
title: "Cambodia's Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land"
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---

# Cambodia's Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land

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Cambodia's Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land [Brinkley, Joel] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Cambodia's Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land

Review: A Very Realistic and Well Written Representation of Cambodia - Currently living in Cambodia and having traveled some of the very rural countryside, not a whole lot has changed since this book was written. It is FACTUAL and objectively presented. I don't think there is a more accurate and comprehensive book available and I am delighted I found it! Being a transplant from the US to Cambodia, one of the remarkable things is that one does not talk politics. The two larger daily publications walk a very fine line in reporting what goes on in this country. Actually not talking politics has it's nicer aspects, though not from the perspective of a citizen of Cambodia. The health care situation is even worse than the author represents, if you can even imagine that. I was in shock the first time I saw someone on a motorcycle holding a wood pole with an IV bag on it (very common as it is the cure for most everything). Worse yet is when the needle is in the arm of an infant!!! People die here at very young ages because with an an average monthly income of $60-$80 per month they cannot afford to walk into a local clinic and pay $12. A friend got a text at 5 am that her 32 year old roommate had died. My friends comment was "she hurt long time"..... Health care for most working folk is at the pharmacy where diagnosis and prescribing are done by the pharmacist! This is a wonderful country and the people are terrific. Once you get out of the cities you will find the only language is Khmer, so be prepared! The most remarkable thing about the Khmer people is that everyone is working hard at something. They know if they don't, they won't eat that day! A warning if you are going to spend any significant time here.....you cannot get angry, do not raise your voice, and you cannot cause a local to lose face and these are the sure ways to do it. As opposed to many other culture, Khmers talk in a very low tone of voice which may be a part of their past experiences. Overall, a great read even if you never visit the country!
Review: Insights into Cambodia's "curse" ... but is the curse starting to lift? - I've always been a bit fascinated by Southeast Asia, a part of the world that feels both well-known and still oddly distant in the West. I'll be traveling to Cambodia for the first time this fall, and in looking for a book to read about the country, many sources pointed me to Brinkley's work. Overall, this is an interesting and well-written book; it is a bit odd to say, but despite being a rather bleak and depressing work, it is a page-turner as well. One gets a good picture of the history of the country, the corruption and oppression that people have to deal with at all levels of society, and the hopelessness felt by many. This is not to say that this is a perfect book. In the early stages of the book, one feels like Cambodia is viewed largely through the 'elite' lens of western diplomatic community, without much thought given to the average Cambodian man, woman, or child. Brinkley eventually corrects this, and provides more balance in the second half of the book, but the first part of the book feels a bit slanted in terms of perspective. Feeding into this is the odd habit that Brinkley has to reveal his personal feelings about particular individuals (Cambodian or otherwise) through unnecessary descriptors or phrases, which can be a bit jolting and makes one worry a little about whether his perspective is a bit biased at times. Perhaps the most frustrating part about the book is the tendency to treat Cambodians as shell-shocked victims with no agency of their own ... while, without a doubt, Cambodians *have* suffered incredibly and have seen attempts to 'speak truth to power' end in jail time, slander, graft, and (disturbingly often) death, it also seems to belie the fact that Cambodia *does* seem to be changing ... measures such as HDI have been on the upswing for more than two decades now, for example. Cambodians are clearly not helpless, even if any progress is an incremental struggle. Brinkley briefly hints at positive changes toward the end of the book, but the reader feels like they might have a better grasp of 1977 Cambodia or even 1997 Cambodia than 2017 Cambodia. That said, considering that I knew very little about Cambodia in 1977, 2017, or any other year, besides general understanding of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, and the connections to the Vietnam War, I was very glad I read this book. But, I am also looking forward to seeing Cambodia with my own eyes to see if the picture is as bleak and seemingly hopeless as Brinkley portrays it to be.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #573,815 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #236 in Southeast Asia History #517 in Violence in Society (Books) #544 in Asian Politics |
| Customer Reviews | 4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars (419) |
| Dimensions  | 5.5 x 1.13 x 8.25 inches |
| Edition  | Illustrated |
| ISBN-10  | 1610391837 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1610391832 |
| Item Weight  | 2.31 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 416 pages |
| Publication date  | September 4, 2012 |
| Publisher  | PublicAffairs |

## Images

![Cambodia's Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/818tlnvWLJL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Very Realistic and Well Written Representation of Cambodia
*by C***L on December 27, 2012*

Currently living in Cambodia and having traveled some of the very rural countryside, not a whole lot has changed since this book was written. It is FACTUAL and objectively presented. I don't think there is a more accurate and comprehensive book available and I am delighted I found it! Being a transplant from the US to Cambodia, one of the remarkable things is that one does not talk politics. The two larger daily publications walk a very fine line in reporting what goes on in this country. Actually not talking politics has it's nicer aspects, though not from the perspective of a citizen of Cambodia. The health care situation is even worse than the author represents, if you can even imagine that. I was in shock the first time I saw someone on a motorcycle holding a wood pole with an IV bag on it (very common as it is the cure for most everything). Worse yet is when the needle is in the arm of an infant!!! People die here at very young ages because with an an average monthly income of $60-$80 per month they cannot afford to walk into a local clinic and pay $12. A friend got a text at 5 am that her 32 year old roommate had died. My friends comment was "she hurt long time"..... Health care for most working folk is at the pharmacy where diagnosis and prescribing are done by the pharmacist! This is a wonderful country and the people are terrific. Once you get out of the cities you will find the only language is Khmer, so be prepared! The most remarkable thing about the Khmer people is that everyone is working hard at something. They know if they don't, they won't eat that day! A warning if you are going to spend any significant time here.....you cannot get angry, do not raise your voice, and you cannot cause a local to lose face and these are the sure ways to do it. As opposed to many other culture, Khmers talk in a very low tone of voice which may be a part of their past experiences. Overall, a great read even if you never visit the country!

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Insights into Cambodia's "curse" ... but is the curse starting to lift?
*by C***S on May 1, 2017*

I've always been a bit fascinated by Southeast Asia, a part of the world that feels both well-known and still oddly distant in the West. I'll be traveling to Cambodia for the first time this fall, and in looking for a book to read about the country, many sources pointed me to Brinkley's work. Overall, this is an interesting and well-written book; it is a bit odd to say, but despite being a rather bleak and depressing work, it is a page-turner as well. One gets a good picture of the history of the country, the corruption and oppression that people have to deal with at all levels of society, and the hopelessness felt by many. This is not to say that this is a perfect book. In the early stages of the book, one feels like Cambodia is viewed largely through the 'elite' lens of western diplomatic community, without much thought given to the average Cambodian man, woman, or child. Brinkley eventually corrects this, and provides more balance in the second half of the book, but the first part of the book feels a bit slanted in terms of perspective. Feeding into this is the odd habit that Brinkley has to reveal his personal feelings about particular individuals (Cambodian or otherwise) through unnecessary descriptors or phrases, which can be a bit jolting and makes one worry a little about whether his perspective is a bit biased at times. Perhaps the most frustrating part about the book is the tendency to treat Cambodians as shell-shocked victims with no agency of their own ... while, without a doubt, Cambodians *have* suffered incredibly and have seen attempts to 'speak truth to power' end in jail time, slander, graft, and (disturbingly often) death, it also seems to belie the fact that Cambodia *does* seem to be changing ... measures such as HDI have been on the upswing for more than two decades now, for example. Cambodians are clearly not helpless, even if any progress is an incremental struggle. Brinkley briefly hints at positive changes toward the end of the book, but the reader feels like they might have a better grasp of 1977 Cambodia or even 1997 Cambodia than 2017 Cambodia. That said, considering that I knew very little about Cambodia in 1977, 2017, or any other year, besides general understanding of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, and the connections to the Vietnam War, I was very glad I read this book. But, I am also looking forward to seeing Cambodia with my own eyes to see if the picture is as bleak and seemingly hopeless as Brinkley portrays it to be.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review
*by D***N on June 5, 2012*

Congratulations to Joel Brinkley for this 'warts and all' assessment of modern Cambodia. It is high time the truth was told about Hun Sen, his self-seeking regime and the wanton betrayal of a nation that has suffered enough. No-one escapes Brinkley's criticism, particularly the UN and Cambodia's donor nations, though he rightly reserves his most barbed passages for Hun Sen and the Cambodian People's Party. I could not put this book down and read it in three sittings. Brinkley's prose is highly readable and his arguments balanced and reasonable. He chooses his examples well and his compassion and sympathy for Cambodia's repressed citizens is palpable. There were several omissions that I would like to have seen included, though these in no way detract from a comprehensive picture of modern Cambodia. The notorious, incendiary, case of the murder of Piset Pilika shows the ruling elite in all its monstrosity, as does the acid attack on the nightclub singer Tat Marina. There is also no mention of the oligarch Sok Kong and the [unspecified] income he reaps from the ticket boothes at Angkor Wat. I intend no criticism. The plethora of case studies that pepper 'Cambodia's Curse' give a more than adequate picture of the continuing hardships and injustices visited on Khmer citizens. Please read this extraordinary book - modern Cambodia continues to be overlooked by the world, just as Cambodia was overlooked in the late 1970s. Joel Brinkley deserves huge credit for trying to change this state of affairs. 'Cambodia's Curse' by Joel Brinkley: highly recommended.

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*Last updated: 2026-03-12*