The horrific torture and execution of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge during the 1970s is one of the century's major human disasters. David Chandler, a world-renowned historian of Cambodia, examines the Khmer Rouge phenomenon by focusing on one of its key institutions, the secret prison outside Phnom Penh known by the code name 'S-21'. The facility was an interrogation center where more than 14,000 'enemies' were questioned, tortured, and made to confess to counterrevolutionary crimes. Fewer than a dozen prisoners left S-21 alive. During the Democratic Kampuchea (DK) era, the existence of S-21 was known only to those inside it and a few high-ranking Khmer Rouge officials. When invading Vietnamese troops discovered the prison in 1979, murdered bodies lay strewn about and instruments of torture were still in place. An extensive archive containing photographs of victims, cadre notebooks, and "DK" publications was also found. Chandler utilizes evidence from the S-21 archive as well as materials that have surfaced elsewhere in Phnom Penh. He also interviews survivors of S-21 and former workers from the prison. Documenting the violence and terror that took place within S-21 is only part of Chandler's story. Equally important is his attempt to understand what happened there in terms that might be useful to survivors, historians, and the rest of us. Chandler discusses the 'culture of obedience' and its attendant dehumanization, citing parallels between the Khmer Rouge executions and the Moscow Show Trails of the 1930s, Nazi genocide, Indonesian massacres in 1965-66, the Argentine military's use of torture in the 1970s, and the recent mass killings in Bosnia and Rwanda. In each of these instances, Chandler shows how turning victims into 'others' in a manner that was systematically devaluing and racialist made it easier to mistreat and kill them. More than a chronicle of Khmer Rouge barbarism, "Voices from S-21" is also a judicious examination of the psychological dimensions of state-sponsored terrorism that conditions human beings to commit acts of unspeakable brutality.

About the Author
David Chandler is Professor Emeritus of History at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. His published works include A History of Cambodia (1991, 1996) and Brother Number One: A Political Biography of Pol Pot (1992). He currently lives in Washington, D.C.

Reviews
"In an effort to explain what happened inside Tuol Sleng (then known by the code name S-21), David Chandler, the preeminent historian of Cambodia, spent years examining the voluminous archives discovered in the compound when the Vietnamese seized power in Cambodia in 1979. He plumbed comparative materials on state-sponsored terror and sought insight in psychological studies of the human capacity to inflict pain. Voices From S-21 is the wrenching and dispassionate result." * New York Times *
"Chandler presents a grisly but lucid historical accounting of S-21, the secret prison where at least 14,000 people were interrogated, tortured, forced to confess to counterrevolutionary crimes and executed during the reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia." * Publishers Weekly *
"Voices from S-21 contributes to a better understanding of the secretive and violent aspects of the paranoid Khmer Rouge regime and fills a gap in the literature on violence in Southeast Asia. . . . the book is timely in light of heightened interest in a permanent International Criminal Court to bring violent war criminals, like the Khmer Rouge, to justice." * American Historical Review *
"Books that give insights into the geopolitics, history and internal mechanics of the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge have their own significance. But this one . . . may be the most illuminating book yet on understanding Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge." * Cambodia Daily *

"It is Chandler's persistent effort to get as close as possible to the minds and experiences of both the captives and captors that elevates his work."

* Japan Times *
"Based on archival resources Chandler himself had gathered over the years, as well as other pertinent material available in Cambodia and elsewhere, Chandler's book offers an engaging portrait of the inner workings and thoughts of those who spearheaded the genocidal campaign." * H-Genocide *



Book Information
ISBN 9780520222472
Author David Chandler
Format Paperback
Page Count 251
Imprint University of California Press
Publisher University of California Press
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 20mm