About book Voices From S-21: Terror And History In Pol Pot's Secret Prison (2000)
I read this shortly after visiting the S-21 in early 07, and my mind was fresh with the blood-stained floors and rusting chains used to restrain thousands of victims, so it's hard to separate that experience from an objective account of the quality of this book, but, suffice to say---any glimpse, with eyebrows or editing, into what went on at this prison in Cambodia in the late 70's will leave you rattled and in awe of the collective ignorance that the world perpetrated and continues to on atrocities that happen outside of Europe and Africa. The portraits of the victims, meticulously documented by Khmer Rouge captors, displayed in part inside this book, are worth the price of this book alone.
I read while I was in Cambodia and at the S-22 site, which made it a more visceral experience. A studious book about tortuous events, it's necessarily plodding and unpleasant. I'm glad I read it, but I don't know that I'd evangelize for the work.I especially appreciated the context of the history of the museum at the site, and at the killing fields: the Vietnamese involvement and propagandistic purposes re-contextual used the museums in Phnom Penh for me. This book is well-researched and worthwhile.
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This book covers one of the lowest points of Cambodian history. It is truly sad and horrific, and this was a difficult book to read.While the events and psychology of the Pol Pot regime were well covered, I was a bit disappointed that the "voices" mentioned in the title were for the most part silent. I suppose part of that is understandable since so much was lost, but I think the narrative aspect of this was lost to more of the factual. Comparison between Stalin's regime and China were well done, but this read more like a thesis than the narrative the title advertises.
—Roderick Vincent
