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What to read before you go
If you read one memoir, start with Loung Ung's First They Killed My Father, then choose from the Khmer Rouge memoirs and histories in that section. For the temples, Michael D. Coe's Angkor and the Khmer Civilization is the single-volume history, and the Angkor list puts the site guides next to it. Vaddey Ratner's In the Shadow of the Banyan is the novel, in the novels. A cookbook is in the cookbook section. A guidebook is only as current as the edition year on the listing, which the guidebook section explains. Children's books are last, and several of them need a parent to read them first. The wider country, from the fall of Angkor through the twentieth century, is the general history.
Khmer Rouge memoirs and history
These are memoirs and histories of the Khmer Rouge years, and of the war that came before them. The notes name the book and who it suits. They do not retell what happened inside the prisons or the camps. Tuol Sleng, the museum in the former S-21 prison, and Choeung Ek are in Phnom Penh, not among the temples. The trip between the two cities is the Siem Reap to Phnom Penh guide.
First They Killed My Father
Loung Ung's memoir, for a reader who wants one personal account before the histories. This link is the Harper Perennial paperback of 4 April 2006, subtitled A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers; Open Library dates the work to 2000.
The 2017 film is based on that memoir. Angelina Jolie directed it, and the screenplay is by Loung Ung and Jolie. It was screened in Siem Reap on 18 February 2017 and released by Netflix in the United States on 15 September 2017. This note does not retell the violence, and this page does not link a copy of the film. See it on Amazon
Lucky Child
Loung Ung's next memoir, for readers who want the years after Cambodia rather than a second telling of the first book. The Harper Perennial paperback of 11 April 2006 is subtitled A Daughter of Cambodia Reunites with the Sister She Left Behind; Open Library dates the work to 2005 and files it under Cambodian Americans and sisters. See it on Amazon
Lulu in the Sky
Loung Ung's third book, for readers following her life after the memoir. Open Library files it under Cambodian Americans and refugees, and its title string omits the punctuation: the readable title is Lulu in the Sky: A Daughter of Cambodia Finds Love, Healing, and Double Happiness. Harper Perennial, 2012. See it on Amazon
When Broken Glass Floats
Chanrithy Him's memoir, for readers who want another childhood account beside Loung Ung's. The subtitle on the W. W. Norton paperback of April 2001 is Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge. Open Library dates the work to 2000. See it on Amazon
Stay Alive, My Son
Pin Yathay's memoir, for readers collecting firsthand accounts rather than a history of the regime. Touchstone Books and Simon & Schuster, 1988. Open Library's title field for this ISBN also contains the words Touchstone Books Paperback, which is cataloguing noise. See it on Amazon
Survival in the Killing Fields
Haing Ngor and Roger Warner's memoir, for readers who want a personal account from those years. This page does not retell it. This link is the Carroll & Graf paperback of 5 December 2003. Open Library dates the work to 1987. See it on Amazon
The Gate
Francois Bizot's account, for readers who want a foreign scholar's view of Cambodia in the early 1970s rather than a child's memoir. The edition is translated from the French by Euan Cameron, with a foreword by John Le Carre, and the description says that in 1971 he was a scholar of Khmer pottery and Buddhist ritual. Knopf, 2002. See it on Amazon
A Cambodian Prison Portrait
Vann Nath's account of his year as an artist in S-21, for someone about to visit the museum in Phnom Penh. Tuol Sleng is in the capital, not at Angkor. Translated by Moeun Chhean Nariddh. White Lotus, 1998. The subtitle is one year in the Khmer Rouge's S-21. See it on Amazon
Elimination
Rithy Panh's own account, for readers who want the filmmaker's book rather than a general history. Open Library identifies him as the director of S-21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine and says he was 11 when his family was expelled from Phnom Penh in 1975. The edition title is Elimination; the work is filed as The Elimination. Other Press, 2024. Open Library dates the work to 2013. See it on Amazon
Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields
Short memoirs by people who were children from 1975 to 1979, gathered by Dith Pran, with an introduction by Ben Kiernan and editing by Kim DePaul. For readers who want more than one voice. The subtitle is Memoirs by Survivors. Yale University Press, 1997. This page does not retell the accounts. See it on Amazon
Voices from S-21
David P. Chandler's history of the prison, for readers who want the institution rather than one survivor's memoir. The edition title continues: Terror and History in Pol Pot's Secret Prison. Silkworm Books and University of California Press paperback, 2000. Open Library dates the work to 1999. See it on Amazon
The Pol Pot Regime
Ben Kiernan's history of the government from 1975 to 1979, for readers who want the regime after the memoirs. The paperback subtitle is Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79. Yale University Press, 1 October 2002. Open Library dates the work to 1996. See it on Amazon
How Pol Pot Came to Power
Ben Kiernan's history of the years before 1975, for readers who want 1930 to 1975 rather than the years in power. The subtitle is colonialism, nationalism, and communism in Cambodia, 1930-1975. Yale University Press, 2004. Check the edition year. Open Library dates the work to 1985. See it on Amazon
Brother Number One
David P. Chandler's political biography of Pol Pot, not a memoir by someone who lived under him. The Silkworm Books paperback of 1993 is subtitled A Political Biography of Pol Pot, Revised Edition. Open Library dates the work to 1992. See it on Amazon
Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare
Philip Short's biography of Pol Pot, for readers who want one life rather than a camp memoir. This link is the Henry Holt paperback of 2006, subtitled Anatomy of a Nightmare. See it on Amazon
When the War Was Over
Elizabeth Becker's history, for readers who want the revolution's aftermath in one narrative. The Touchstone paperback of September 1987 is subtitled The Voices of Cambodia's Revolution and Its People. Open Library dates the work to 1986. See it on Amazon
The Lost Executioner
Photographer Nic Dunlop's account, for readers who want a reported journey into the Khmer Rouge years rather than a camp memoir. The Walker & Company paperback of 6 February 2007 is subtitled A Journey to the Heart of the Killing Fields. Open Library dates the work to 2005. See it on Amazon
Sideshow
William Shawcross's history of the American war in Cambodia, for the years before 1975, not a childhood memoir of the Khmer Rouge. The subtitle is Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia. Fontana, 1980. Open Library dates the work to 1979 and files it under the civil war of 1970-1975. See it on Amazon
To Destroy You Is No Loss
Joan D. Criddle and Teeda Butt Mam's account of one family's years as refugees, for readers who want a family story rather than a history of the party. The subtitle is the odyssey of a Cambodian family. Anchor Books, 1989. Open Library files it under Cambodia in 1975-1979. See it on Amazon
Golden Bones
Sichan Siv's memoir, for readers who want the journey out of Cambodia and into a life in the United States. This link is the Harper Perennial paperback of 23 June 2009. Open Library dates the work to 2008 and files it under memoirs. See it on Amazon
Beyond the Horizon
Laurence Picq's eyewitness account of Pol Pot's government from 1975 to 1979, translated by Patricia Norland. The subtitle is five years with the Khmer Rouge. St. Martin's Press, 1989. For readers who want someone who was inside the administration, not a child's memoir. See it on Amazon
River of Time
Jon Swain's memoir, for the civil war years rather than a history of Angkor. Open Library files the work under the Cambodian civil war of 1970-1975 and under war correspondents, and the description says he became a journalist and then went to Vietnam and Cambodia. This link is the Penguin Random House edition of 2010. Open Library dates the work to 1995. See it on Amazon
Angkor and the temples
For the kings, start with the Khmer Empire history. For the walk, use the one-day Angkor Wat itinerary and the Angkor Thom guide. A full-day small-group tour is the usual way to see sunrise or sunset with a guide.
The books below are what to read before that day, or on the evening after. A guide from the 1990s describes the art as it was recorded then. Check the edition year on the listing.
Ancient Angkor
Michael Freeman and Claude Jacques's guide to the art and architecture, for someone who wants a book to carry against the galleries. Thames & Hudson, 1999. Open Library calls it a guide to the art and architecture of Angkor and files it under Angkor guidebooks. See it on Amazon
Angkor: Cambodia's Wondrous Khmer Temples
Dawn F. Rooney's temple guide, for a visitor who wants the monuments in one handbook. The subtitle on this edition is Cambodia's Wondrous Khmer Temples. Odyssey Books & Guides, 2011, with distribution in the United States by W. W. Norton. Check the edition year on the listing. The year here is the 2011 printing we opened. See it on Amazon
Angkor Cities and Temples
Claude Jacques's illustrated book on the cities and the temples, for a reader who wants the big volume rather than the pocket guide Ancient Angkor. This link is the River Books hardcover of 1 August 2006. The edition record does not name a photographer. See it on Amazon
Angkor and the Khmer Civilization
Michael D. Coe's single-volume history, the one to read if you want the civilization before a site guide. Open Library's jacket note describes Khmer culture from the Stone Age to the French protectorate in 1863. This link is the Thames & Hudson paperback of February 2005, in the Ancient Peoples and Places series. The edition names Michael D. Coe. See it on Amazon
The Civilization of Angkor
Charles Higham's archaeological history, for readers who want an archaeologist's account of the civilization beside Coe's. Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Orion, 2001. See it on Amazon
A Record of Cambodia
Zhou Daguan's firsthand account, the one contemporary description of Angkor Open Library's note identifies. He visited in 1296-97. The subtitle is The Land and Its People. This Silkworm Books paperback of 30 October 2007 does not name a translator. See it on Amazon
Angkor Wat: Time, Space, and Kingship
Eleanor Mannikka's specialist study of Angkor Wat itself, for a reader who wants the temple's layout and kingship rather than a walking guide to the park. University of Hawaii Press paperback, May 2000. See it on Amazon
Angkor, Heart of an Asian Empire
Bruno Dagens's illustrated history of Angkor, translated from the French by Ruth Sarman. Abrams, 1995. For readers who want how the city sits in the empire, in a shorter book than the archaeological surveys. See it on Amazon
Khmer Mythology
Vittorio Roveda's guide to the stories on the walls, for the bas-reliefs at Angkor Wat and the Bayon. The River Books paperback of May 2006 is subtitled Secrets of Angkor. Open Library dates the work to 1997. See it on Amazon
Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia
The National Gallery of Art exhibition catalog, edited by Helen Ibbitson Jessup and Thierry Zephir, for readers who want the sculpture in one volume. The edition subtitle is millennium of glory. National Gallery of Art, 1997. See it on Amazon
Khmer: The Lost Empire of Cambodia
Thierry Zéphir's illustrated survey of the empire, for readers who want the kings and the sculpture together and do not need a temple-by-temple walk. Abrams, 1998. Open Library's author line uses Zéphir. See it on Amazon
The Indianized States of Southeast Asia
George Coedes's regional classic, for the states of Southeast Asia rather than a day at Angkor Wat. Open Library spells the name George. Coedes. University of Hawaii Press, June 1968. See it on Amazon
Cambodian history
Longer histories of the country, from the survey to books on the years after 1979. The year on each one is the printing we opened. Check the edition year on the listing.
A History of Cambodia
David P. Chandler's survey, the general history to read if you want the whole country in one book. This link is the Westview Press paperback of 30 August 2007. Open Library dates the work to 1983. Check the edition year on the listing. See it on Amazon
The Tragedy of Cambodian History
David P. Chandler's history of politics, war, and revolution since 1945, for the twentieth century after the survey. Yale University Press paperback, 10 September 1993. Open Library dates the work to 1991. See it on Amazon
A Short History of Cambodia
John Tully's short history, for readers who want one volume and a series subtitle rather than Chandler's survey. The subtitle is From Empire to Survival. Allen & Unwin paperback, 1 September 2006. See it on Amazon
Cambodia's Curse
Joel Brinkley's modern history, for the years readers still ask about after the textbooks stop. The subtitle is the modern history of a troubled land. PublicAffairs, 2011. The by-line on the edition is Joel Brinkley. See it on Amazon
Hun Sen's Cambodia
Sebastian Strangio's book on Cambodia in the Hun Sen years. Open Library's description identifies him as a journalist based in Phnom Penh. Yale University Press, 2020. Open Library dates the work to 2014. The edition record has no subtitle. See it on Amazon
The History of Cambodia
Justin J. Corfield's narrative history. The edition by-line says Justin Corfield, and the description carries the story through the fall of Angkor and the French protectorate. Greenwood Press, 2009. See it on Amazon
Cambodia: Report from a Stricken Land
Henry Kamm's history of contemporary Cambodia. Open Library's description identifies him as a former Southeast Asia correspondent for the New York Times. This link is the Arcade Publishing hardcover of 31 July 1998, subtitled Report from a Stricken Land. Check the edition year if the listing shows a later printing. See it on Amazon
Cambodia Now
Karen J. Coates's reportage on life after the war, including the Angkor legacy and daily life, for readers who want the country people live in rather than another memoir. The subtitle is Life in the Wake of War. McFarland paperback, March 2005. See it on Amazon
Novels
These are novels. A novel that draws on the author's life is still fiction here, not a memoir. The memoir section is above.
In the Shadow of the Banyan
Vaddey Ratner's novel, the one to read if you want a story rather than a memoir. Open Library says it is based on the author's own story and told from a young girl's point of view. It is fiction. Simon & Schuster paperback, 2013. Open Library dates the work to 2012. See it on Amazon
Music of the Ghosts
Vaddey Ratner's later novel, subtitled A Novel. Teera returns to Cambodia with a letter from a man who signs himself the Old Musician. Touchstone, 2017. Fiction, not a sequel you have to treat as history. See it on Amazon
Dogs at the Perimeter
Madeleine Thien's novel. Open Library files it under Cambodia and under Montreal, and the edition record we read has no plot summary, so this note does not invent one. The publisher line reads Granta/Portobello Omes, paperback, 16 November 2012. See it on Amazon
The Rent Collector
Camron Wright's novel about Sang Ly, who picks through garbage at Stung Meanchey in Phnom Penh. The edition by-line says Camron Wright; the work record says Camron Steve Wright. Shadow Mountain, 2012. Fiction. See it on Amazon
The Disappeared
Kim Echlin's novel. A young woman from Montreal travels to Cambodia to look for Serey, a refugee who returned when the borders reopened. Hamish Hamilton Canada, 2009. See it on Amazon
The Map of Lost Memories
Kim Fay's adventure novel, set in 1925, not a history of the temples. Irene Blum has a map said to lead to copper scrolls about Cambodia's ancient Khmer civilization, and she travels from Seattle to Shanghai to the Cambodian jungle. Windsor, 2013. Open Library dates the work to 2012. See it on Amazon
Never Fall Down
Patricia McCormick's novel, not a memoir. Open Library's description names Arn Chorn-Pond. The subtitle is A Novel. For teenagers and adults, not for young children. ItBooks, 2018. Open Library dates the work to 2012. See it on Amazon
Afterparties
Anthony Veasna So's stories, filed by Open Library under Cambodia and Cambodian Americans. They are not a temple guide, and this note does not claim each story is set in Siem Reap. Ecco paperback, 7 June 2022. Open Library dates the work to 2021. See it on Amazon
Cookbooks
A cookbook is not a list of restaurants. The Siem Reap food guide is where the dishes show up on a plate. These are the Cambodia cookbooks we could verify.
The Elephant Walk Cookbook
Longteine De Monteiro and Katherine Neustadt's book of Cambodian cooking for an American kitchen, with food graphs by Alan Richardson. The cover note says 150 recipes. Houghton Mifflin, 1998. The subtitle ties the book to the Elephant Walk restaurant. See it on Amazon
Cambodian Cooking
A Cambodian cookbook whose 2017 Tuttle paperback is subtitled A humanitarian project in collaboration with Act for Cambodia. That edition lists Joannes Riviere, Dominique De Bourgknecht, and David Lallemand. Open Library dates the work to 2005, so check the edition year on the listing. See it on Amazon
The Food & Cooking of Cambodia
Ghillie Basan's cookbook. The edition subtitle describes classic Cambodian recipes shown step by step in photographs. Southwater paperback, 25 December 2007. See it on Amazon
Travel guidebooks
These links search Amazon for the series, so the listing can show a current printing. Read the edition year before you pack the book. The packing list is where a paper guide fits, and the Siem Reap guides cover the logistics on the ground.
Lonely Planet Cambodia
A country guidebook for the trip. This link searches Amazon for Lonely Planet Cambodia. Read the edition year on the listing before you pack it. See it on Amazon
The Rough Guide to Cambodia
The Rough Guide to Cambodia, for the same job as the Lonely Planet. This link searches Amazon for that title. Read the edition year on the listing. See it on Amazon
Moon Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos
Moon's regional handbook for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. This link searches Amazon for that title. Read the edition year on the listing. See it on Amazon
Children's books
A few of these are picture books. Others are novels for older children about the 1970s. Read them yourself before you hand them over. They are not a cheerful souvenir from the airport.
Half Spoon of Rice
A picture book for a parent to read first, not a cheerful souvenir. The 2011 East West Discovery Press hardcover lists Icy Smith and Sopaul Nhem. Open Library's description follows a nine-year-old named Nat after 17 April 1975. Open Library dates the work to 2009. See it on Amazon
A Song for Cambodia
Michelle Lord's children's biography. The work record files it under musicians and Cambodia. The edition's subject line says grades 1-2 and does not name the person. Lee & Low Books hardcover, 30 March 2008. See it on Amazon
A Path of Stars
Anne Sibley O'Brien's picture book. Dara tries to comfort her grandmother, a refugee from Cambodia, after the grandmother learns her brother has died. Charlesbridge, 2012. See it on Amazon
Cambodian Dancer
A picture book Open Library calls the true story of a Cambodian refugee who danced, taught, and built a life in the United States. The subtitle is Sophany's Gift of Hope. Daryn Reicherter. Tuttle Publishing hardcover, 26 June 2018. The work is filed as The Cambodian Dancer and dated 2015. See it on Amazon
The Caged Birds of Phnom Penh
A story, not a history. A young girl in Cambodia saves money to buy a bird and make a wish for her family. Frederick Lipp, illustrated by Ronald Himler. Holiday House, 2001. See it on Amazon
Who Belongs Here?
Margy Burns Knight's book for grades 3-4, about Nary, a Cambodian refugee in America, and about prejudice. It is not a Siem Reap guide. The subtitle is An American Story. Tilbury House paperback, April 1996. Open Library dates the work to 1993. See it on Amazon
The Clay Marble
Minfong Ho's novel for older children, not a picture book. In the late 1970s, twelve-year-old Dara joins a refugee camp in Cambodia and is separated from her family. This link is the Holt Rinehart and Winston hardcover of June 1998, subtitled With Connections. Open Library dates the work to 1991. See it on Amazon
The Stone Goddess
Minfong Ho's novel for the same age as The Clay Marble. Twelve-year-old Nakri and her older sister try to keep classical dance after the family is taken out of city life. Hampton-Brown, 2003. See it on Amazon
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Reading on the ground
Buy the books before you fly. This page does not name a bookshop in Siem Reap. If the gift is a book to read before the trip, the souvenir guide is the rest of that question.
The temples are at Angkor. Tuol Sleng, the museum in the former S-21 prison, and Choeung Ek are in Phnom Penh, not in the Angkor park. The way to put the capital first is the Siem Reap to Phnom Penh guide.
FAQ
What should I read before visiting Cambodia?
Read one memoir and one Angkor history before you fly, then add a novel or a cookbook if you want them. Loung Ung's First They Killed My Father is the memoir this page starts with. Michael D. Coe's Angkor and the Khmer Civilization is the single-volume Angkor history. Vaddey Ratner's In the Shadow of the Banyan is the novel. Buy the books before you travel. This page does not name a bookshop in Siem Reap.
Is First They Killed My Father a true story?
It is Loung Ung's memoir of her childhood, not a novel. The 2017 film is based on that memoir. Angelina Jolie directed it, and the screenplay is by Loung Ung and Jolie. It was screened in Siem Reap on 18 February 2017 and released by Netflix in the United States on 15 September 2017. This page does not retell the violence in the book or the film, and it does not link a film for sale.
What's the best book about Angkor Wat?
For a single-volume history, use Michael D. Coe's Angkor and the Khmer Civilization, the Thames & Hudson paperback of February 2005. For the art and architecture on the site, use Michael Freeman and Claude Jacques's Ancient Angkor, Thames & Hudson, 1999. Eleanor Mannikka's Angkor Wat: Time, Space, and Kingship, University of Hawaii Press, May 2000, is the specialist book on Angkor Wat itself. Check the edition year on any guide.
Is there a good Cambodia guidebook?
Yes. The guidebook links search Amazon for Lonely Planet Cambodia, the Rough Guide to Cambodia, and Moon Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Moon's book covers Vietnam and Laos as well as Cambodia. Read the edition year on the listing before you pack it.
Are there novels set in Cambodia?
Yes. Vaddey Ratner's In the Shadow of the Banyan, the Simon & Schuster paperback of 2013, is a novel based on the author's story. Music of the Ghosts is also a novel. Madeleine Thien's Dogs at the Perimeter, Camron Wright's The Rent Collector, Kim Echlin's The Disappeared, Kim Fay's The Map of Lost Memories, Patricia McCormick's Never Fall Down, and Anthony Veasna So's Afterparties are the other novels on this page. Never Fall Down is a novel, not a memoir, and it is for teenagers and adults. Afterparties is stories filed under Cambodian Americans, not a temple guide.
What's a good Cambodian cookbook?
Longteine De Monteiro and Katherine Neustadt's The Elephant Walk Cookbook, Houghton Mifflin, 1998, presents Cambodian cooking for an American kitchen. The 2017 Tuttle paperback of Cambodian Cooking is subtitled a humanitarian project with Act for Cambodia, and the work was first published in 2005, so check the edition year. Ghillie Basan's The Food & Cooking of Cambodia, Southwater, 2007, is the third. Cooking from these is separate from where to eat in Siem Reap.
Is there a children's book about Cambodia?
Yes, and they are not all for the same age. Daryn Reicherter's Cambodian Dancer, Tuttle, 2018, is a picture book about a Cambodian refugee who danced and taught in the United States. Anne Sibley O'Brien's A Path of Stars, Charlesbridge, 2012, is a picture book about a girl and her grandmother, a refugee from Cambodia. Icy Smith's Half Spoon of Rice is a picture book a parent should read first. Minfong Ho's The Clay Marble and The Stone Goddess are for older children, not picture books.
Can I listen instead of reading?
This page does not say which of these books are on Audible. An eligible new member can start an Audible free trial from the link near the top of this page and use it on a book they choose.
Titles, authors, publishers, and edition years were checked on Open Library on 23 October 2026. Each of the other Amazon book links uses the ISBN-10 from that ISBN's Open Library edition record. Where a first-publication year is given, it is the year on the Open Library work record for that edition. The film paragraph is from the English Wikipedia article First They Killed My Father (film), checked on 23 October 2026. The three guidebook links are Amazon searches. Read the edition year on the listing. This page does not say which of these books are on Audible.