Book
Survival in the Killing Fields
Survival in the Killing Fields is Haing Ngor's memoir of surviving the Khmer Rouge, written with Roger Warner and first published in 1987.[1][2] Ngor won an Academy Award for playing Dith Pran in the film The Killing Fields.[1]
About the book
The memoir tells how Ngor survived the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. It recounts forced labor, starvation, disease, imprisonment and torture, the destruction of family life, and the deaths of civilians as the country fell into violence. It also reflects on endurance, love and cultural experience, and on the lasting effects of war and political brutality.[1]
The book begins with his early life, in chapters such as "Education" and "Romance and Coup," and passes through "The Fall" and "Exodus from Phnom Penh." It ends with his life in the United States, in chapters such as "To America," "Starting Over," "The Killing Fields" and "Celebrity."[2]
Publication and editions
Ngor wrote the memoir with the journalist Roger Warner. Warner later added an epilogue about Ngor's life in the United States and his murder in 1996.[1][3] Macmillan Publishing Company first published the book in the United States in 1987 as Haing Ngor: A Cambodian Odyssey.[1][2] Carroll & Graf published it in New York in 2003 as Survival in the Killing Fields, in 515 pages.[2]