![]() The first treats of the exodus, on foot, of the entire population of Phnom Penh-2.5 million docile, uncomprehending people-and the wholesale emptying of cities and towns that he witnessed before his own evacuation: a totally regimented operation which, he concludes, ""reflects a new concept of society no place for even the idea of a city."" And indeed (he learned from refugees) all the deportees, regarded as prisoners of war, were literally sent into the forest-except for the former cadres, who were summarily shot. He divides it, usefully, into three major parts. A terrifying one for all who have any respect for human beings."" After ten years (1965-75) as a Catholic missionary in Cambodia, Francois Ponchaud was not disposed to regret the 1975 Khmer Rouge victory, so corrupt and exploitative had he found the previous regimes to be and it is his sympathetic puzzlement at the aftermath-combined with his thorough knowledge of Cambodian affairs and his scrupulosity-that makes his report invaluable and virtually irrefutable. ![]() ![]() Cambodia, 1975- ? : ""A fascinating revolution for all who aspire to a new social order. ![]()
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