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When Janey Comes Marching Home
by Laura Browder Sascha PflaegingWhile women are officially barred from combat in the American armed services, in the current war, where there are no front lines, the ban on combat is virtually meaningless. More than in any previous conflict in our history, American women are engaging with the enemy, suffering injuries, and even sacrificing their lives in the line of duty.When Janey Comes Marching Home juxtaposes forty-eight photographs by Sascha Pflaeging with oral histories collected by Laura Browder to provide a dramatic portrait of women at war. Women from all five branches of the military share their stories here--stories that are by turns moving, comic, thought-provoking, and profound. Seeing their faces in stunning color photographic portraits and reading what they have to say about loss, comradeship, conflict, and hard choices will change the ways we think about women and war. Serving in a combat zone is an all-encompassing experience that is transformative, life-defining, and difficult to leave behind. By coming face-to-face with women veterans, we who are outside that world can begin to get a sense of how the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have shaped their lives and how their stories may ripple out and influence the experiences of all American women.The book accompanies a photography exhibit of the same name opening May 1, 2010, at the Women in Military Service to America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, and continuing to travel around the country through 2011.
When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home: How All of Us Can Help Veterans
by Ph.D. Paula J. CaplanWhy are those devastated by war or other military experiences called mentally ill? The standard treatment of therapy and drugs can actually be harmful, and huge numbers of suffering veterans from earlier eras demonstrate its inadequacy. Most of us are both war-illiterate and military-illiterate. Caplan proposes that we welcome veterans back into our communities and listen to their experiences, one-on-one. Beginning a long overdue national discussion about the realities of war and the military will help us bridge the dangerous chasms between veterans and nonveterans.
When Johnny Comes Marching Home
by Mildred AldrichMildred Aldrich was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1853. After graduating from Everett High School in 1872, she taught elementary school in Boston, Massachusetts.Aldrich began her career as a journalist with the Boston Home Journal and later contributed to Arena and the Boston Herald. For a short period in 1892, she also edited the magazine, The Mahogany Tree.In 1898, Aldrich moved to France and while living in Paris became a close friend of Gertrude Stein. Aldrich worked as a foreign correspondent and newspaper critic until retiring to Huiry, a village on the outskirts of Paris. She wrote to Stein in June 1914: "It will be the bloodiest affair the world has ever seen - a war in the air, under the sea as well as on it, and carried out with the most effective man-slaughtering machines ever used in battle."During the First World War, Aldrich wrote A Hilltop on the Marne (1915), a book based on her journal entries (3rd June - 8th September 1914) and on letters she wrote to Gertrude Stein. The book sold well in the United States and she followed it with On the Edge of the War Zone (1917), The Peak of the Load (1918) and When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1919).The French government believed that Aldrich's work helped persuade the US government to declare war on Germany and in 1922 was awarded the Legion of Honour.Mildred Aldrich died in Huiry, France, on 19th February, 1928.Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in Boston, Small, Maynard and Company, 1919.Original Page Count - 286 pages.
When Lenin Lost His Brain
by Giles MiltonIn this marvellous collection of fascinating footnotes, Giles Milton delves into the little-known stories from history. Covering everything from adventure, war, murder and slavery to espionage, including the stories of the female Robinson Crusoe, Hitler's final hours, Japan's deadly balloon bomb and the emperor of the United States, these tales deserve to be told.
When Men Fell from the Sky: Civilians and Downed Airmen in Second World War Europe (Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare)
by Claire AndrieuBetween 1940 and 1945, more than 100,000 airmen were shot down over Europe, a few thousand of whom survived and avoided being arrested. When Men Fell from the Sky is a comparative history of the treatment of these airmen by civilians in France, Germany and Britain. By studying the situation on the ground, Claire Andrieu shows how these encounters reshaped societies at a local level. She reveals how the fall of France in 1940 may have concealed an insurrection nipped in the bud, that the 'People's War' in Britain was not merely a myth, and that in Germany, the 'racial community of the people' had in fact become a social reality with Allied airmen increasingly subjected to lynching from 1943 onwards. By considering why the treatment of these airmen contrasted so strongly in these countries, Andrieu sheds new light on how civilians reacted when confronted with the war 'at home'.
When One Door Closes: A heart-warming saga of love and friendship in a city ravaged by war (Eileen Gillmoss series, Book 1)
by Joan JonkerWith the powerful aid of friendship, a young woman learns to love again after the tragedies of the Second World War. Joan Jonker's first instalment of the Eileen Gillmoss series, When One Door Closes, is a heart-warming saga of love and laughter in the direst of circumstances, and promises to be an unforgettable tale. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Dilly Court.It's May 1941 and Liverpool is taking a hammering from the German bombers. For young Mary Bradshaw and her widowed mother life is full of rationing, blackouts and the wail of the air-raid siren. Despite the gloom, Mary's heart is light as she counts her blessings - she's got her loving mother and Bob, her soldier boyfriend whom she adores and hopes to marry soon. During the worst air raid Liverpool has ever suffered, fate deals Mary the first of many cruel blows it has in store for her. She is devastated as her whole world collapses. But Mary doesn't have to face the knocks alone. Her best friend Eileen has a heart and a sense of humour as big as her eighteen stone body - heaven help anyone who hurts her mate! Harry is the boy from up the road who's loved Mary since they were kids and he'll not desert her now. Soon Mary finds that when one door closes, another one really does open. What readers have been saying about When One Door Closes: 'This is the first Joan Jonker book I have read and it is one of the best books I have ever read. It is a warm-hearted story set in Liverpool during the blitz. The characters draw you in and you feel as if you know them''A warm hearted, captivating story of life in Liverpool during the blitz. You feel as though you are actually involved in the story, as the characters are so warm and friendly - a totally absorbing read'
When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-44
by Ronald RosbottomIn May and June 1940 almost four million people fled Paris and its suburbs in anticipation of a German invasion. On June 14, the German Army tentatively entered the silent and eerily empty French capital. Without one shot being fired in its defence, the Occupation of Paris had begun. When Paris Went Dark tells the extraordinary story of Germany's capture and Occupation of Paris, Hitler's relationship with the City of Light, and its citizens' attempts at living in an environment that was almost untouched by war, but which had become uncanny overnight. Beginning with the Phoney War and Hitler's first visit to the city, acclaimed literary historian and critic Ronald Rosbottom takes us through the German Army's almost unopposed seizure of Paris, its bureaucratic re-organization of that city, with the aid of collaborationist Frenchmen, and the daily adjustments Parisians had to make to this new oppressive presence. Using memoirs, interviews and published eye-witness accounts, Rosbottom expertly weaves a narrative of daily life for both the Occupier and the Occupied. He shows its effects on the Parisian celebrity circles of Pablo Picasso, Simone de Beauvoir, Colette, Jean Cocteau, and Jean-Paul Sartre, and on the ordinary citizens of its twenty arrondissements. But Paris is the protagonist of this story, and Rosbottom provides us with a template for seeing the City of Light as more than a place of pleasure and beauty.
When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944
by Ronald C. RosbottomThe spellbinding and revealing chronicle of Nazi-occupied Paris On June 14, 1940, German tanks entered a silent and nearly deserted Paris. Eight days later, France accepted a humiliating defeat and foreign occupation. Subsequently, an eerie sense of normalcy settled over the City of Light. Many Parisians keenly adapted themselves to the situation-even allied themselves with their Nazi overlords. At the same time, amidst this darkening gloom of German ruthlessness, shortages, and curfews, a resistance arose. Parisians of all stripes-Jews, immigrants, adolescents, communists, rightists, cultural icons such as Colette, de Beauvoir, Camus and Sartre, as well as police officers, teachers, students, and store owners-rallied around a little known French military officer, Charles de Gaulle. WHEN PARIS WENT DARK evokes with stunning precision the detail of daily life in a city under occupation, and the brave people who fought against the darkness. Relying on a range of resources---memoirs, diaries, letters, archives, interviews, personal histories, flyers and posters, fiction, photographs, film and historical studies---Rosbottom has forged a groundbreaking book that will forever influence how we understand those dark years in the City of Light.
When Pine was King
by Lewis Charles ReimannLewis Reimann was the son of German immigrants who ran a boarding-house for miners and loggers in the Iron River district of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. When Lewis C. Reimann brought out his volume of reminiscences of early life in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in 1951, Between The Iron and the Pine, consisting of the author’s recollections with anecdotes and historical commentary about the region, he thought of it mostly as a labor of love in connection with a centennial at Iron River, his birthplace. Reimann conveyed a sense of the occupational lifestyles and multiple ethnicities of Iron River’s inhabitants and dealt in some detail with its folklore, material culture, foodways, and memorable local characters.Between The Iron and the Pine enjoyed such a wide success that it was as surprising as it was gratifying to its author—and it was only natural that he should write a sequel.This book, When Pine Was King, first published in 1952, with its locale in the semi-wilderness land across the Straits of Mackinac, treats of the early days of the Upper Peninsula when men were men and every lumberjack could lick his weight in wildness…or thought he could.Another gripping read from Lewis Charles Reimann.
When Rains Became Floods: A Child Soldier’s Story
by Lurgio Gavilán Sánchez Margaret RandallWhen Rains Became Floods is the gripping autobiography of Lurgio Gavilán Sánchez, who as a child soldier fought for both the Peruvian guerrilla insurgency Shining Path and the Peruvian military. After escaping the conflict, he became a Franciscan priest and is now an anthropologist. Gavilán Sánchez's words mark otherwise forgotten acts of brutality and kindness, moments of misery and despair as well as solidarity and love.
When Reagan Sent in the Marines: The Invasion of Lebanon
by Patrick J. Sloyan"In this formidable narrative, the prize-winning and super honest reporter, Patrick Sloyan, adds the depth of a scholar's context to produce a gripping reminder of why we should never forget history. He makes readers feel like they were eye witnesses." —Ralph NaderFrom a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who reported on the events as they happened, an action-packed account of Reagan's failures in the 1983 Marines barracks bombing in Beirut. On October 23, 1983, a truck bomb destroyed the U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut. 241 Americans were killed in the worst terrorist attack our nation would suffer until 9/11. We’re still feeling the repercussions today.When Reagan Sent In the Marines tells why the Marines were there, how their mission became confused and compromised, and how President Ronald Reagan used another misguided military venture to distract America from the attack and his many mistakes leading up to it.Pulitzer Prize-winning author Patrick J. Sloyan uses his own contemporaneous reporting, his close relationships with the Marines in Beirut, recently declassified documents, and interviews with key players, including Reagan’s top advisers, to shine a new light on the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and Reagan’s doomed ceasefire in Beirut. Sloyan draws on interviews with key players to explore the actions of Kissinger and Haig, while revealing the courage of Marine Colonel Timothy Geraghty, who foresaw the disaster in Beirut, but whom Reagan would later blame for it.More than thirty-five years later, America continues to wrestle with Lebanon, the Marines with the legacy of the Beirut bombing, and all of us with the threat of Mideast terror that the attack furthered. When Reagan Sent In The Marines is about a historical moment, but one that remains all too present today.
When Religion Matters: Practicing Healing in the Aftermath of the Liberian Civil War
by Annie Hardison-MoodyIn this book, Hardison-Moody argues that religion matters for many survivors of violence, and that this fact must be taken into account in international conversations about women, violence, and healing. Consequently, she looks beyond the institutional forms of religion, instead studying the ways women live and profess healing and transformation as a part of their everyday lives. This book expands our imagination by bringing to light the distinctiveness of the transformational work accomplished by women victimized by war.
When Shadows Fall
by L. Ron HubbardExplore exotic new worlds. In a future where Mother Earth has cast her children to the distant stars to begin anew and colonize the cosmos, the planet remains depleted of natural resources. Its air polluted by caustic iron and belching smoke, Earth faces her last desperate days in the grip of global environmental collapse.In one final and feeble effort, Earth's Grand President Makin musters the dregs of his fleet and sends three separate missions to the deepest reaches of space. Their mission: solicit help from the far-flung colonial civilizations, or watch the planet die. ALSO INCLUDES THE SCIENCE FICTION STORIES "TOUGH OLD MAN" AND "BATTLING BOLTO""Hubbard was a first-rate pulp writer." --Locus Magazine
When She Came Home
by Drusilla CampbellWHEN SHE CAME HOMEFrankie Byrne Tennyson stunned everyone when she decided to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. Now-after bravely serving her country in Iraq-she's finally come home. Home to a husband whose lingering feelings of abandonment make her wonder if their lives can ever be the same. Home to a daughter whose painful encounters with bullies can only be healed by a mother's love. And home to a father who still can't accept his daughter's decision to serve in spite of his own stellar career as a brigadier general. But the most difficult part about coming home lies within Frankie herself. To save everything she holds dear, she must face the toughest battle of her life . . . A moving portrait of a modern American family, WHEN SHE CAME HOME reminds us that some things-honor, acceptance, and, above all, love-are truly worth fighting for.
When Should A Commander Be Relieved?: A Study Of Combat Reliefs Of Commanders Of Battalions And Lower Units During The Vietnam Era
by Major Thomas V. DraudeThis study attempts to determine when commanders of battalions and lower units should be relieved during combat. The investigation analyzed actual reliefs during the Vietnam era to determine why the commanders were relieved, the availability of replacements, the role of counselling, and the effect on the unit.Investigation reveals that most reliefs were not caused by a single deficiency but rather by a combination of perceived shortcomings. Mission failure was not a significant reason for relief. Captains and lieutenants were more likely to be relieved than were lieutenant colonels. Replacements for the relieved commanders were usually available. Most reliefs were effected without prior counselling. The effect of the relief on the unit depended primarily on the unit's evaluation of the relieved commander's leadership and popularity.Further examination of the causes and effects of reliefs produced guidelines for commanders to consider before relieving a subordinate commander.
When Silence Falls
by Shirlee McCoyAn armed gunman tests a woman’s faith and her relationship with a handsome veteran in this inspirational romantic suspense novel.Life was busy and organized, just the way Lakeview music history professor Piper Sinclair liked it. Some recent family research even meant a new book to write. Until she witnessed an attempted kidnapping—and became a target herself. Someone wanted her out of the way permanently. Someone who seemed to know her all too well . . . His expertise as a former crime scene photographer left Cade Macalister with memories he couldn’t shake. Encountering Piper at the crime scene brought a different set to mind—his friend’s little sister had certainly grown up well, and she couldn’t take on this mysterious assailant alone. Of course, convincing Piper of that would be the only way to solve this dangerous riddle . . . and keep her alive.
When Soldiers Say No: Selective Conscientious Objection in the Modern Military (Military and Defence Ethics)
by Paul Robinson David Whetham Andrea EllnerTraditionally few people challenged the distinction between absolute and selective conscientious objection by those being asked to carry out military duties. The former is an objection to fighting all wars - a position generally respected and accommodated by democratic states, while the latter is an objection to a specific war or conflict - theoretically and practically a much harder idea to accept and embrace for military institutions. However, a decade of conflict not clearly aligned to vital national interests combined with recent acts of selective conscientious objection by members of the military have led some to reappraise the situation and argue that selective conscientious objection ought to be legally recognised and permitted. Political, social and philosophical factors lie behind this new interest which together mean that the time is ripe for a fresh and thorough evaluation of the topic. This book brings together arguments for and against selective conscientious objection, as well as case studies examining how different countries deal with those who claim the status of selective conscientious objectors. As such, it sheds new light on a topic of increasing importance to those concerned with military ethics and public policy, within military institutions, government, and academia.
When The Soldiers Were Gone
by Vera W. ProppAt first Henk didn't believe what his Papa was saying. That the two strangers standing in the front room are his real parents, and now that the war is over they have come to take him back. He is told his name isn't even Henk, it's really Benjamin, and he's Jewish. But all Henk can remember is living on the farm with Papa, Mama, Miep, and Pieter. How can he possibly be expected to leave them? <P><P>Set in Holland just after the end of World War II, this is the moving story of a young boy adapting to life after the war with a family he doesn't remember.
When Someone You Love Suffers from Posttraumatic Stress
by Claudia ZayfertFor trauma survivors struggling with intense memories and emotions, it often feels like life won't ever be "normal" again. Effective treatments are out there, but the needs of family members are often overlooked. Will the person you love ever get better? What can you do to promote healing? Where can you turn when you just can't cope? From experienced trauma specialists Drs. Claudia Zayfert and Jason C. DeViva, this compassionate guide is packed with information, support, vivid stories, and specific advice. Learn to navigate the rough spots day by day and help your loved one find a brighter tomorrow.
When The Somme Ran Red [Illustrated Edition]
by Arthur Radclyffe DugmoreCaptain Dugmore stands as a rather strange figure even in the mass of personalities that fought in the Great War: an artist of some standing, a writer, and traveller. When the war broke out in 1914, he visited Belgium as a private citizen; appalled by the damage that the Germans, who were overrunning country in short order at the time, were wreaking he decided to join the British Army. There was only one small problem: at the time he was forty-four, too years too old to enter the army. But he strode into his local recruiting office and demanded admission to the army, and if met with refusal, he stated, he would return with a changed appearance and falsify his age!The army accepted Mr Dugmore as an officer and sent him off for immediate training. Despite having spent a large slice of his life in the outdoors in Africa painting and writing about wildlife, he must have found the trenches a shock. As he recounts in his book, he was strafed, shot at, barraged, and gassed during his time at the front, finally wounded and passed unfit for service in 1916 during the later phases of the battle of the Somme.The author's book is excellently written, filled with anecdote and detailed battle scenes. Author -- Captain Arthur Radclyffe Dugmore 1870 - 1955Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in New York, George H. Doran company 1918Original Page Count - 285 pagesIllustrations -- 20 maps and illustrations
When the Apricots Bloom: The evocative and emotionally powerful story of secrets, family and betrayal . . .
by Gina WilkinsonDISCOVER THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER TODAY. Iraq, 2002. Three women - a secretary, an artist and a diplomat's wife - must decide what to sacrifice to protect their families, under the ruthless rule of a dictator . . .Have you discovered the international bestseller yet?'I truly felt for the memorable women risking their lives to protect themselves and their families . . . Baghdad springs into vivid violent life . . . Outstanding!' DINAH JEFFERIES, number one Sunday Times bestselling authorTwo can keep a secret, only when one of them is dead . . .'A deeply involving and important novel by a master storyteller' SUSAN WIGGS, number one New York Times bestselling author'Breathtaking...Riveting and profound! I adored this book!' Ellen Marie Wiseman, New York Times bestselling authorIraq, 2002.As night falls in Huda's fragrant garden of apricot trees, a breeze sweeps in from the desert, warning of visitors at her gate.A secretary at the Australian embassy in Baghdad, Huda has been ordered by the mukhabarat to befriend and spy upon the Deputy Ambassador's wife, Ally Wilson. To refuse is to risk her son being forced to join a deadly militia. But - though Huda cannot yet know it - Ally is keeping dangerous secrets of her own.Meanwhile, Huda's estranged friend Rania - a sheikh's daughter whose wealth is long gone - is battling to keep her own her own daughter safe from the dictator's men.As Huda and Rania are brought together again, through their relationship with Ally, their hidden pasts spill into the present. Facing betrayal at every turn, all three women must trust in a fragile, newfound loyalty, even as they discover how much each is willing to sacrifice to protect those they love . . .Lose yourself in this evocative, emotionally powerful and completely gripping international bestseller, where secrets are precious currency and three courageous women are tested to the limit by a horrifying power seemingly beyond their control.'Wilkinson weaves in the miasma of fear and distrust that characterized Hussein's regime with convincing detail. Richly drawn characters and high-stakes plot' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY'Rarely do we hear stories of those who are most oppressed. And stories from recent wars told by women about women are even rarer . . . Wilkinson's evocative language shapes the novel into one of suspense, intrigue and conspiracy; where female friendship is platformed . . . Although it is set within a backdrop of male power, where human grief is "almost a creature into itself", the power of a woman's intent for the safety of those she loves carries the novel through with a mesmerising pulsating force' SYDNEY MORNING HERALD(P)2020 Headline Publishing Group
When the Bombs Stopped: The Legacy of War in Rural Cambodia (Princeton Studies in International History and Politics #206)
by Erin LinHow undetonated bombs from a war that ended more than fifty years ago still affect Cambodian farmers and their land Over the course of the Vietnam War, the United States dropped 500,000 tons of bombs over Cambodia—more than the combined weight of every man, woman, and child in the country. What began as a secret CIA infiltration of Laos eventually expanded into Cambodia and escalated into a nine-year war over the Ho Chi Minh trail fought primarily with bombs. Fifty years after the last sortie, residents of rural Cambodia are still coping with the unexploded ordnance that covers their land. In When the Bombs Stopped, Erin Lin investigates the consequences of the US bombing campaign across postconflict Cambodia.Drawing on interviews, original econometric analysis, and extensive fieldwork, Lin upends the usual scholarly perspective on the war and its aftermath, presenting the viewpoint of those who suffered the bombing rather than those who dropped the bombs. She shows that Cambodian farmers stay at a subsistence level because much of their land is too dangerous to cultivate—and yet, paradoxically, the same bombs that endanger and impoverish farming communities also protect them, deterring predatory elites from grabbing and commodifying their land. Lin argues that the half-century legacy of American bombs has sedimented the war into the layers of contemporary Cambodian society. Policies aimed at developing or modernizing Cambodia, whether economic liberalization or authoritarian consolidation, must be realized in an environment haunted by the violence of the past. As the stories Lin captures show, the bombing served as a critical juncture in these farming villages, marking the place in time where development stopped.
When the Clouds Fell from the Sky: A Daughter's Search for Her Father in the Killing Fields of Cambodia
by Robert Carmichael'An outstanding book of astonishing power . . . One finishes it with an ache in the heart'Jon Swain, writer and foreign correspondent, author of River of Time'Like Auschwitz, like Stalin's purges, the mass murders of the Khmer Rouge are one of those extraordinary events that make us wonder about the human capacity for evil. Through a profoundly moving tale that weaves together the connected stories of a victim, his surviving family, and members of the regime, Robert Carmichael brings us into the heart of the darkness that took over Cambodia, bringing it alive in the way no mere statistics can. I've not seen a comparable book about these horrors.'Adam Hochschild, award-winning author of King Leopold's Ghost'What does it mean to say two million people lost their lives during the years of Khmer Rouge rule? The true answer can only be told in microcosm, as Robert Carmichael has done in this intimate and heartbreaking story of the disappearance of one man, and the decades of suffering that followed as his family searched for answers.'Seth Mydans, former Southeast Asia correspondent for the New York Times'As moving as it is well researched. Robert Carmichael's sharp prose and depth of knowledge of Cambodia's history transforms a daughter's search for her missing father into a nation's journey to find peace and reconciliation with its brutal history of genocide.'Loung Ung, author of First They Killed My FatherDuring the Khmer Rouge's four-year reign of terror, two million people died in Cambodia. In describing one family's quest to learn their husband's and father's fate and the war crimes trial of Comrade Duch, who ran the notorious S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, When the Clouds Fell from the Sky illuminates the tragedy of a nation.Having been found responsible for the deaths of more than 12,000 people, Duch was the first Khmer Rouge member to be jailed for crimes committed during Pol Pot's catastrophic 1975-9 rule during which millions were executed or died from starvation, illness and overwork. The Khmer Rouge closed Cambodia's borders, barred all communication with the outside world and sought to turn the clock back to Year Zero. They outlawed religion, markets, money, education and even the concept of family.But the revolution soon imploded, driven to destruction by the incompetence and paranoia of the leadership. Like hundreds of others, when he returned in 1977, Ouk Ket was utterly unaware of the terrors being wrought in the revolution's name.Carmichael has woven together the stories of five people whose lives intersected to traumatic effect: Duch; Ket's daughter, Neary, who was just two when her father disappeared; Ouk Ket himself; Ket's French wife, Martine; and Ket's cousin, Sady, who never left Cambodia and still lives there today.Through these personal stories and months spent following Duch's trial, Carmichael extrapolates from the experience of one man to tell the story of a nation. In doing so, he reaffirms the value of the individual, countering the Khmer Rouge's nihilistic maxim that: 'To keep you is no benefit, to destroy you is no loss.'
When the Clouds Fell from the Sky: A Daughter's Search for Her Father in the Killing Fields of Cambodia
by Robert Carmichael'Like Auschwitz, like Stalin's purges, the mass murders of the Khmer Rouge are one of those extraordinary events that make us wonder about the human capacity for evil. Through a profoundly moving tale that weaves together the connected stories of a victim, his surviving family, and members of the regime, Robert Carmichael brings us into the heart of the darkness that took over Cambodia, bringing it alive in the way no mere statistics can. I've not seen a comparable book about these horrors.'Adam Hochschild, award-winning author of King Leopold's Ghost'To keep you is no benefit, to destroy you is no loss.'During the Khmer Rouge's four-year rule of terror, two million people, or one in every four, Cambodians, died. In describing one family's decades-long quest to learn their husband's and father's fate and the war crimes trial of Comrade Duch (pronounced 'Doyk'), who ran the notorious S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, When the Clouds Fell from the Sky illuminates the tragedy of a nation. In 2012, Duch was sentenced to life imprisonment, having been found responsible for the deaths of more than 12,000 people. He was the first Khmer Rouge member to be jailed for crimes committed during Pol Pot's catastrophic 1975-9 rule during which millions were executed or died from starvation, illness and overwork as Cambodia underwent the most radical social transformation ever attempted. Designed to outdo even Mao's Great Leap Forward, it was an unparalleled disaster.At the same time, the Khmer Rouge closed Cambodia's borders, barred all communication with the outside world and sought to turn the clock back to Year Zero. They outlawed religion, markets, money, education and even the concept of family. The revolution soon imploded, driven to destruction by the incompetence and paranoia of the leadership. Yet instead of recognising their own failings, the leaders sought unseen enemies everywhere. In their pursuit of purity, they destroyed a nation. Like hundreds of other returnees, when he returned in 1977 Ouk Ket was utterly unaware of the terrors being wrought in the revolution's name. Hundreds of thousands of other Cambodians perished in nearly 200 institutions like S-21. To illustrate this era and its consequences, Robert Carmichael has woven together the stories of five people whose lives intersected to traumatic effect: Duch; Ket's daughter, Neary, who was just two when her father disappeared; Ouk Ket himself; Ket's French wife, Martine; and Ket's cousin, Sady, who never left Cambodia and still lives there today. Through these personal stories, the author's own research, numerous interviews and months spent following Duch's trial, Robert extrapolates from the experience of one man to tell the story of a nation. In doing so, he reaffirms the value of the individual, countering the Khmer Rouge's nihilistic maxim that: 'To keep you is no benefit, to destroy you is no loss.'
When the Clouds Fell from the Sky: A Daughter's Search for Her Father in the Killing Fields of Cambodia
by Robert Carmichael'An outstanding book of astonishing power . . . One finishes it with an ache in the heart'Jon Swain, writer and foreign correspondent, author of River of Time'Like Auschwitz, like Stalin's purges, the mass murders of the Khmer Rouge are one of those extraordinary events that make us wonder about the human capacity for evil. Through a profoundly moving tale that weaves together the connected stories of a victim, his surviving family, and members of the regime, Robert Carmichael brings us into the heart of the darkness that took over Cambodia, bringing it alive in the way no mere statistics can. I've not seen a comparable book about these horrors.'Adam Hochschild, award-winning author of King Leopold's Ghost'What does it mean to say two million people lost their lives during the years of Khmer Rouge rule? The true answer can only be told in microcosm, as Robert Carmichael has done in this intimate and heartbreaking story of the disappearance of one man, and the decades of suffering that followed as his family searched for answers.'Seth Mydans, former Southeast Asia correspondent for the New York Times'As moving as it is well researched. Robert Carmichael's sharp prose and depth of knowledge of Cambodia's history transforms a daughter's search for her missing father into a nation's journey to find peace and reconciliation with its brutal history of genocide.'Loung Ung, author of First They Killed My FatherDuring the Khmer Rouge's four-year reign of terror, two million people died in Cambodia. In describing one family's quest to learn their husband's and father's fate and the war crimes trial of Comrade Duch, who ran the notorious S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, When the Clouds Fell from the Sky illuminates the tragedy of a nation.Having been found responsible for the deaths of more than 12,000 people, Duch was the first Khmer Rouge member to be jailed for crimes committed during Pol Pot's catastrophic 1975-9 rule during which millions were executed or died from starvation, illness and overwork. The Khmer Rouge closed Cambodia's borders, barred all communication with the outside world and sought to turn the clock back to Year Zero. They outlawed religion, markets, money, education and even the concept of family.But the revolution soon imploded, driven to destruction by the incompetence and paranoia of the leadership. Like hundreds of others, when he returned in 1977, Ouk Ket was utterly unaware of the terrors being wrought in the revolution's name.Carmichael has woven together the stories of five people whose lives intersected to traumatic effect: Duch; Ket's daughter, Neary, who was just two when her father disappeared; Ouk Ket himself; Ket's French wife, Martine; and Ket's cousin, Sady, who never left Cambodia and still lives there today.Through these personal stories and months spent following Duch's trial, Carmichael extrapolates from the experience of one man to tell the story of a nation. In doing so, he reaffirms the value of the individual, countering the Khmer Rouge's nihilistic maxim that: 'To keep you is no benefit, to destroy you is no loss.'