First They Killed My Father

When I was in college, I took a course on political violence. For our unit on genocide, we discussed the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia and the over 2 million people they killed, all in the name of creating an agrarian society. We also watched the movie made shortly after the end of the war, “The Killing Fields.” This film was devastating and deeply effecting, and I have thought of it often in the several years since. It is what made me want to read this book, which has been equally if not more devastating and effecting. It's a beautifully written memoir from the perspective of the author as she was when the Khmer Rouge takeover and genocide occurred - a young child. Reading the events in her youthful voice made them all the more real to me, and even those not familiar with the war in Cambodia or the violence that happened there will both enjoy this book, be educated by it, and not be able to forget it. Highly recommended.