The Master of Confessions - The Making of a Khmer Rouge Torturer

Renowned journalist Thierry Cruvellier takes us into the dark heart of Cambodia''s Khmer Rouge with The Master of Confessions , a suspenseful account of a Chief Interrogator''s trial for war crimes. On April 17, 1975, the communist Khmer Rouge, led by its secretive prime minister Pol Pot, took over Cambodia. Renaming the country Democratic Kampuchea, they cut the nation off from the world and began systematically killing and starving two million of their people. Thirty years after their fall, a man named Duch (pronounced "Doik"), who had served as Chief Prison officer of S21, the regime''s central prison complex, stood trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Unlike any other tribunal defendant, Duch acknowledged his personal responsibility, pleaded guilty, and asked for forgiveness from his victims. In The Master of Confessions , Thierry Cruvellier uses the trial to tell the horrifying story of this terrible chapter in history. Cruvellier offers a psychologically penetrating, devastating look at the victims, the torturers, and the regime itself, searching to answer crucial questions about culpability. Self-drawing on his knowledge, and experience, Cruvellier delivers a startling work of journalistic history--by turns deeply moving, horrifying, and darkly funny.

Product details

• Authors: T. Cruvellier, Thierry Cruvellier
• Assisted by: Alex Gilly (Translation)
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 18.03.2014
• EAN: 9780062329547
• ISBN: 978-0-06-232954-7
• No. of pages: 336
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 28 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > 20th century (up to 1945); Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; True Crime, Geopolitics, History of Science, Far-left political ideologies and movements, Political structures: totalitarianism and dictatorship, Left-of-centre democratic ideologies, Human rights, civil rights, True war and combat stories, Biography: historical, political and military, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Historical, HISTORY: Modern / 20th Century, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Military, POLITICAL SCIENCE: Human Rights, TRUE CRIME: Historical, POLITICAL SCIENCE: Geopolitics, SCIENCE: History, GENOCIDE STUDIES: CAMBODIA, Genocide Studies / Cambodia