Cambodia Reading List – Cambodia Books for Pre-Trip Research and Holiday Reading. Prasat Pram, part of the archaeological site of Koh Ker. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Cambodia Reading List – Cambodia Books for Pre-Trip Research and Holiday Reading

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A Cambodia reading list for your next holiday in Cambodia. These are the Cambodia books we recommend you read before you leave home, take in your carry-on for in-flight reading, and pack in your suitcase for reading by the pool. These are the books on Cambodia we consider essential Cambodia reading. By no means an exhaustive list, it will still enrich your experience of Cambodia.

A Cambodia reading list at last! I can’t tell you how many times our readers and friends have asked what Cambodia books to read before leaving home, to pack for holiday reading in Cambodia, and to read when they return home, when they’re ready to reminisce about their holiday in Cambodia, and start planning the next trip.

Well, here’s some essential Cambodia reading for you, the books that rarely leave our bedside tables and are piled high on the desk where I write. This is our recommended reading on Cambodia. Some of these books are the books about Cambodia that we sought out and read when we first moved to Phnom Penh way back in October 2012 – the month Cambodia’s King Father died and Cambodia went into mourning.

This list covers everything from the best Angkor temple guidebook and must-read Cambodian history books to best Cambodian cookbook – impossible for people who are writing their own epic Cambodian culinary history and cookbook not to have a Cambodia cookbook on a Cambodia reading list.

But keep in mind this is not a comprehensive Cambodia reading list – it’s simply the must-read Cambodia books we think you should read before your trip to Cambodia or the Cambodia books you should pack for your holiday reading.

If a book isn’t on this list, it’s not because we don’t know about it, it’s just we don’t think it’s essential pre-trip reading. If you’re heading to Cambodia and would like a longer Cambodian reading list, email us or let us know in the comments at the end of this post.

Cambodia Reading List – Cambodia Books for Pre-Trip Research and Holiday Reading

This is our highly selective Cambodia reading list of books to read before, during and after your Cambodia trip.

Cambodia Books for Pre-Trip Reading

These are the Cambodia books we recommend you read in the weeks and months leading up to your Cambodia trip.

History of Cambodia by David Chandler

If you only read one book on Cambodia’s past, make it David Chandler’s easy-to-read and concise History of Cambodia. Archaeologist Damian Evans, who is based in Siem Reap and specialises in Angkor, recommends Chandler’s book as “an accessible but scholarly overview of the broader contours of Khmer history from the earliest times up until the present day”.

The book covers the early history and Funan kingdom, the Angkor period, post Angkor, French colonial times, modern Cambodia, the Pol Pot revolution and collapse of his Khmer Rouge regime, ending with the beginning of the Khmer Rouge tribunals in 2007.

It’s a great introduction for first-timers to the country’s history and politics and provides a good grounding for more reading on its archaeology and contemporary affairs.

Angkor and the Khmer Civilisation by Michael D. Coe

Archaeologist Damian Evans called Angkor and the Khmer Civilisation “a worthy introduction to the civilisation of Angkor” and it’s a fantastic exploration of the Khmer people and their civilizations, from pre-historic times through the kingdoms of Funan and Zhenla (Chenla) to post-Angkor times.

The focus is on the Classic Angkor period, when Khmer cities and rural centres, scattered across northeastern Thailand, southern Laos, southern Vietnam, and what we now know as Cambodia, were connected by an impressive system of roads and bridges.

Beginning in 802 AD, this is when most of the Hindu and Buddhist temples you’ll see – including architectural masterpieces like Angkor Wat, the world’s largest religious structure – were built by Khmer kings over more than five centuries.

The book has lots of useful maps, temple floor plans, illustration, and photographs that bring the past to life.

Cambodia’s Curse, The Modern History of a Troubled Land by Joel Brinkley

A Cambodia reading list would be incomplete without Cambodia’s Curse, The Modern History of a Troubled Land on it. Author Joel Brinkley won a Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for his coverage of the fall of the Khmer Rouge.

Almost thirty years later he returned to find out what had become of the world’s first country to become a United Nations protectorate as Cambodia had in the early 1990s, when billions in international aid were injected into the economy and the UN supervised democratic elections in 1993.

While Brinkley found paved roads and a few skyscrapers rising from Phnom Penh’s dusty streets, he also discovered a country in which, a generation after the Khmer Rouge, many were still haunted by the regime’s terror.

Brinkley estimated that one-third to one-half of the population that survived the regime, had PTSD and their afflictions were being passed on to the younger generation. Brinkley examines everything from corruption and underdevelopment to the entrenched culture of non-government organisations in Cambodia.

Hun Sen’s Cambodia by Sebastian Strangio

A biography of contemporary Cambodia as much as a portrait of its leader, Hun Sen, the world’s longest serving prime minister, Sebastian Strangio’s book Hun Sen’s Cambodia is the only work to analyse Cambodia’s recent history in depth.

Strangio lived in the Cambodian capital for many years as a reporter and editor at the Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia’s oldest English-language newspaper (as well as a freelancer for the likes of The Economist and The Atlantic Monthly).

His perspective and insight is therefore that of an insider rather than a writer who flits in for a few months to do research. Strangio examines everything from the UN’s failed attempt at democracy building to the protracted Khmer Rouge tribunals

Cambodia Books for the Flight Over

This is the one Cambodia book we recommend for your flight to Cambodia as you won’t be able to put it down.

First They Killed My Father, A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung

Take a box of tissues in your carry-on as this engrossing, easy-to-read autobiography by Loung Ung, told in the voice of her five-year-old self, is heartbreaking. The first of a trilogy, First They Killed My Father focuses on the tragic childhood of Ung, daughter to a high-ranking government official, during the brutal Pol Pot regime.

Kicking off in April 1975 in Cambodia’s cosmopolitan capital, Phnom Penh, Ung’s world is destroyed when her family, including seven children, have to flee to the countryside, along with the rest of the city’s population.

Separated and sent to labour camps, Loung, who is forced to train as a child soldier, loses two of her siblings and parents, before making her way to a refugee camp and eventually the USA. Angelina Jolie made First They Killed My Father into a movie, soon to be released on Netflix.

The Only Book to Take to the Angkor Temples

This is the only guidebook you need in your day pack for exploring Angkor Wat and the other temples in Angkor Archaeological Park.

Focusing on the Angkor Temples: The Guidebook by Michel Petrotchenko

If you only buy one Angkor guidebook make it Focusing on the Angkor Temples: The Guidebook – the book rarely leaves the daypack I take on temple scrambles. Beautifully illustrated with images of the temples, bas-reliefs, carvings, and statues, it includes maps, itineraries and temple floor plans.

The book organises the major temples into chronological order in one section while another section organises temples into geographical order. Each temple chapter includes advice on how to explore the temple, highlights and details not to miss.

There’s also a front section on the history of the region, religion, and temple architecture, which has a fascinating table of the world in Angkor times. Archaeologist Damian Evans says it’s “by far the best in-depth textual guide to the finer details of the temples. It is superb.”

Cambodia Books to Pack for Your Holiday Reading

These are the essential Cambodia books that will enhance your experience of Siem Reap and the Angkor temples.

Ancient Angkor by Michael Freeman and Claude Jacques

Ancient Angkor, by renowned French scholar Claude Jacques and photographer Michael Freeman who documented the temples over 15 years, is a fantastic companion to Petrotchenko and can also be found in my daypack during temple excursions.

The introductory section covers Khmer history, kings, religion, the temples and their architecture and inscriptions, as well as the daily life of the Khmer people. The rest of the book organises the temples into geographical order, which makes things easier when organising temple tours.

There are still plenty of detailed plans and concise lists of highlights. Whereas the Petrotchenko book can seem overwhelming to some, this book is more straightforward. It also features some smaller lesser-visited temples not covered in other books. If I can’t find something I want in this book, I’ll consult the Petrotchenko book and vice versa.

Cambodia Guidebook by Lonely Planet

There is such an abundance of information online these days – including our own website, obviously – that increasingly travellers don’t feel the need to carry a guidebook with them. However, if you still like the convenience of having a reference tool at hand, then don’t even thinking about buying anything other than the Lonely Planet Cambodia guidebook.

And believe me, having authored, updated and contributed to dozens of Lonely Planet guidebooks we are most definitely not biased. While the listings aren’t always as up to date as they could be, the quality of chapters written by author Nick Ray, a long-time Cambodia resident, are informed by his many years working and living in the country and are the most accurate.

The Angkor Guidebook: Your Essential Companion to the Temples compiled by Andrew Booth

As you amble around Angkor Wat and other archaeological sites you’ll inevitably begin to wonder what the temples looked like when they were built. What this hardcover The Angkor Guidebook: Your Essential Companion to the Temples does that others don’t is use an artist’s impressions, based on academic research, to show you what the temples looked like in their heyday compared to now.

The artistic renditions of colourful gilded temples from the past are on plastic overlays, which peel back to reveal the grey sandstone and rust-coloured laterite temples of today. Archaeologist Damian Evans recommends this “if you want a more visual reference with a more general ‘big picture’ approach” and calls it “unique and indispensable”.

Cambodia Books for Poolside Reading

In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner

Poetic and mystical, and punctuated with magical realist moments, In the Shadow of the Banyan is a beautifully crafted novel told also from the perspective of a child, yet it’s a very different book to First They Killed My Father.

A lyrical coming-of-age story set during the genocide of 1975-79, when millions of Cambodians lost their lives, Ratner’s book is based on her childhood with the life of the central character, seven-year-old Raami, paralleling the tragic experiences of her family of Cambodian royals.

Beginning shortly before Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge arrives in Phnom Penh, forcing people from their homes, the narrative follows the family’s departure from the capital, when the city’s entire population was forced into the countryside to labour camps, and their struggles to survive. You’ll need two boxes of tissues if you’re going to attempt both books.

Cambodia Books for Your Post Holiday Reading

If you fall in love with Cambodia as so many visitors to the Kingdom of Wonder do and you’re already planning a return trip, order these books so they’re waiting for you when you return home.

When the War Was Over: Cambodia And The Khmer Rouge Revolution (Revised Edition) by Elizabeth Becker

Considered by many to be the definitive work on the Khmer Rouge period, the hefty tome When the War Was Over: Cambodia And The Khmer Rouge Revolution by award-winning journalist Elizabeth Becker should be the first book you read when you get back home.

Becker, who I interviewed in Siem Reap some years ago for the Phnom Penh Post, began covering Cambodia for The Washington Post in 1973 and was one of only three foreign journalists invited back by Pol Pot to report on his revolution.

Epic in all dimensions, it begins with the birth of Modern Cambodia and the French colonial period, and covers the Khmer Rouge regime in a depth you won’t see elsewhere, ending with the death of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot in 1998. The book is based on Becker’s immense experience and staggering amount of research, including exclusive interviews.

The Elephant Walk Cookbook by Longteine De Monteiro

Aimed firmly at an American readership, with Cambodian recipes adapted to suit the availability of produce and ingredients in the USA, The Elephant Walk Cookbook was written by Longteine De Monteiro, the wife of a diplomat forced into exile when Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge invaded Cambodia.

After escaping to France, she opened what is said to have been the first Cambodian restaurant outside Cambodia. She established another, the well-regarded The Elephant Walk, in Boston, after moving to the USA.

Her book could possibly have been the first Cambodian cookbook published in the West also. While some of the recipes have provenance in the kitchens that De Monteiro knew, those of Cambodian aristocrats, others have more humble origins.

Spirit Worlds: Cambodia, The Buddha And The Naga by Philip Coggan

If you’re keen to untangle the often confusing and bewildering web of stories, myths and legends your archaeological guides spun as you scrambled around the temples, Spirit Worlds: Cambodia, The Buddha And The Naga is the book you wished you’d had at the time. Although, trust me, it will make so much more sense if you read it afterwards.

A historian, writer, former diplomat, and long-time Phnom Penh resident, Philip Coggan provides a thorough and fascinating account of Cambodia’s religious and spiritual beliefs, rituals, rites, and practices, from animism to the supernatural, offerings to merit making.

Coggan begins with Buddha’s life then moves on to ancient Hindu myths and Mount Meru, the holy mountain which many Angkor temples symbolise, explaining everything from the story of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk (if only I had a dollar for every time a guide told that one – and another for every tourist’s wrinkled brow) and ends with the role of religion today.

Coggan travelled around Cambodia to conduct research and the book is sprinkled with local insights and poignant encounters.

Destination Cambodia: Adventures in the Kingdom by Walter Mason

“I first went to Cambodia as a young man because it seemed the most exotic and dangerous place in the world to go,” Australian author Walter Mason writes in Destination Cambodia: Adventures in the Kingdom, with reference to his first trip in 1996. “I also went because my mother had specifically asked me not to…” he admits.

Mason’s book, an intimate and personal account of his time in Cambodia, is peppered with more charming confessions as he affectionately recounts his search for a lost friend and tales of meetings with a cast of colourful Cambodian characters, including shamans, fortune tellers, hookers, hustlers, and hip hop stars.

Stopping off in Bangkok on his way back home, after some months living in Phnom Penh, Mason reflects that, “to leave Cambodia was to leave a cocoon of wonder…” Mason’s is a fun book to read when you get back home. Though be warned: it could have you buying a plane ticket back to Cambodia in no time.

Where to Buy Books on Cambodia

I’ve included Amazon links above, but if you prefer to support good bookshops, make a beeline for the best bookshop with a good selection of books on Southeast Asia. Perhaps check their website or contact the bookshop first.

If you don’t have any luck, look for your nearest university with an Asian studies department. Their university bookshop should stock many of these titles.

If you’re passing through Bangkok, River Books and Kinokuniya will have many of these titles. In Cambodia, you’ll find some of these books at Monument Books in Phnom Penh

That’s our Cambodia reading list – the concise Cambodia reading list. What books on Cambodia would you add?

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AUTHOR BIO

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A travel and food writer who has experienced over 70 countries and written for The Guardian, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia, DestinAsian, TIME, CNN, The Independent, The Telegraph, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, AFAR, Wanderlust, International Traveller, Get Lost, Four Seasons Magazine, Fah Thai, Sawasdee, and more, as well as authored more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Fodors, Thomas Cook, and AA Guides.

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