First They Killed My Father

By Loung Ung,

Book cover of First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers

Book description

A major film, co-written and directed by Angelina Jolie

Until the age of five, Loung Ung lived in Phnom Penh, one of seven children of a high-ranking government official. She was a precocious child who loved the open city markets, fried crickets, chicken fights and being cheeky to her parents.…

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Why read it?

1 author picked First They Killed My Father as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book details the heart-rending, painful experience of a Cambodian child victim of genocide in 1975-1979 under the brutal dictatorship of Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge's one-party regime killed an estimated 1-3 million people overall. It is important to highlight the massacres within Southeast Asia that are often neglected in the Western education system.

More specifically, First They Killed My Father is a raw, powerful book story of resilience. Loung Ung was only five years old when she was forced to become a child soldier and survive in grueling manual child labor conditions while her siblings were also similarly forced…

From Akana's list on oppression for young adults.

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Interested in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge, and genocide?

Cambodia 26 books
The Khmer Rouge 9 books
Genocide 93 books