John Tully, "A Short History of Cambodia: From Empire to Survival" (repost)

In this concise and compelling history, Cambodia’s past is described in vivid detail, from the richness of the Angkorean empire through the dark ages of the 18th and early-19th centuries, French colonialism, independence, the Vietnamese conflict, the Pol Pot regime, and its current incarnation as a troubled democracy. With energetic writing and passion for the subject, John Tully covers the full sweep of Cambodian history, explaining why this land of contrasts remains an interesting enigma to the international community. Detailing the depressing record of war, famine, and invasion that has threatened to destroy Cambodia, this discussion shows its survival to be a testament to the resilience …

From Booklist
A knowledgeable history of Cambodia, Tully's coverage starts with the country's geography, which is flat, fringed by mountains, and dominated by the Mekong River. It culminates in Cambodia's protracted recovery from the enormities of the communist regime of 1975-79, which killed about one-fourth of the populace. In between stands the great archaeological legacy of the temples of Angkor, which today attract tourists who would find Tully's work to be a profitable orientation. They will learn about historians' debates concerning the origin of the Khmer people–probably descendants of a migration from India–and the rise of the Angkor Empire and its eclipse in the 1400s. Decline continued, Tully explains, until Cambodia tottered on the brink of extinction in the mid-1800s at the hands of Vietnam and Thailand, but it was saved, in a sense, by French colonization in 1863. With France's departure in 1953, Cambodia's fate as an unhappy object of geopolitics resumed. An excellent overview with guidance to more detailed works about Cambodia.
Gilbert Taylor