Bourdier, Frederic; Development and Dominion: Indigenous Peoples of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos
This book deals with prevailing development ideologies and their impacts on indigenous societies with a particular focus on Cambodia, Laos and the central highlands of Vietnam. It reinforces the idea that development, as it is conceptualized and implemented, radically undermines local communities’ ability to control the parameters of inevitable social and material changes. The more development projects choose new objectives and operating models the more the rhetoric and practices remain the same. One of the strengths of the presentations is to convincingly advocate closer ethnographic understanding in order to make any sort of cross-cultural negotiations and mutual engagement meaningful. This imperative is known to some extent, but it needs to be implemented more vigorously to make it more persuasive. As a result, anthropology of development rather than development anthropology is proposed. The essential difference lies in the point of engagement. Development anthropology seeks to do development better, by trying to mitigate the effects of top-down programs and allow some breathing space for local people to express their input. Anthropology of development, on the other hand, questions the very operating premises of contemporary development. This point is very much in line with the intent of the current book, even if some of the authors in this book opt to challenge this position, being convinced that it is not the best strategy to offer radical critiques that few people in the world of development listen to, and preferring to work within the world of development programs in the hope of providing salient lessons and constructive models.

Dumarcay, Jacques; Site of Angkor, The
Of the numerous cultural sites in Cambodia, the best known by far is Angkor. The great archaeological remains found there are ranked among the most important in the world. The Site of Angkor introduces the reader to this remarkable complex. Its main focus is on the principal phases of construction at Angkor which reached their peaks with Angkor Wat and subsequently with Angkor Thom. It also narrates the pillage, temporary reoccupation, dormancy, rediscovery, and restoration of Angkor. Jacques Dumarcay has spent a lifetime of research devoted to Angkor and other archaeological sites in Southeast Asia. He is a leading expert on the temples and is admirably placed to summarize their most important features.

Gorer, Geoffrey; Bali and Angkor
In the early 1930s, Geoffrey Gorer went on a three months’ pleasure trip to Sumatra, Java, Bali, Thailand and Cambodia. Although, as he modestly points out in the Foreword to Bali and Angkor, he “was obviously debarred from writing a serious book about these regions”, he was nevertheless able to produce a very superior book of travel which can be read with great enjoyment today—fifty years after publication. Recent travel writing about Southeast Asia may describe more adventurous journeys, contain more practical information and be more splendidly illustrated, but what Bali and Angkor lacks in these respects is more than made up for by Geoffrey Gorer’s very considerable powers of observation and his interest in trying to interpret the role that art and religion play in the life of the Balinese and the Khmers. His writing also has great style. If it is correct that genuine travel has become a lost art, one of the best ways to experience it vicariously would be to read Bali and Angkor.

Kersten, Carool; Strange Events in the Kingdoms of Cambodia
This book describes a turbulent decade in the relations between the Dutch East India Company and Cambodia, and also gives an account of the first recorded European venture into neighboring Laos. Composed of material from a variety of Dutch East India Company records, it was published in 1669 by Pieter Casteleyn, of Haarlem. The book gives detailed descriptions of the situation at the Cambodian court, Dutch-Cambodian commercial relations and the intense rivalry between the Dutch and Portuguese. The account of the expedition into Laos led by Gerard Wusthoff records interesting details on the route between Phnom Penh and Viang Chan. It is full of fascinating observations on Lao court ceremony, people’s customs and livelihood, and Buddhist traditions. The only translation ever made, in French, was commissioned in 1871 by the French explorer Francis Gamier, a former member of the French Mekong Exploration Commission (1866-1868). This first English translation of an important but much neglected source on Indochina is annotated with background introduction by the translator. It is a welcome addition to the growing body of texts on Southeast Asian history and travel.

Montague, Joel G.; Picture Postcards of Cambodia 1900-1950
An ambitious study of Cambodia's colonial history, this book examines picture postcards, a novel visual source that exploded as a revolutionary form of popular communication during the first half of the twentieth century. French military, civil servants and tourists bought thousands of exotic picture postcards as souvenirs and mailed them home from Indochina. The postcards presented a contrived, romantic image of the Cambodian Protectorate, capturing a remarkable and changing nation as the foundations of its traditional society were being dramatically changed. These cards are a treasure trove of rarely-seen images of Cambodia, which are today scattered among obscure archives, postcard dealers and private collections in France. This book includes hundreds of the best and rarest postcards of colonial Cambodia from the author's own collection. The book starts with an introduction covering the creation of what was to become French Indochina and its postal service. The postcards shown in the book are arranged and introduced according to seventeen chapters each with its own theme and each followed by appropriate postcard images. The themes are: the Cambodian Monarchy, the Royal Palace and its staff; Cambodia's capital—Phnom Penh; the Mekong River; the Khmer and other inhabitants of Cambodia; dance and music; cards with special interests such as the French and local military, the prison system, educational institutions, and hunting; the various religions of Cambodia, Cambodia's major towns and villages; the Cambodian economy, important events and rites of passage, Angkor Wat and other archaeological treasures; Cambodia's representation abroad including international fairs and expositions and a final chapter with rare examples of color picture postcards of the Protectorate of Cambodia. This is an important book on the iconography of Cambodia, a subject, until now, somewhat neglected by those interested in cultural history and photography.

Mouhot, Henri; Travels in Siam, Cambodia, Laos and Annam Vol, 1
Originally published as: Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China (Siam, Cambodia and Laos during the Years 1858, 1859 and 1860) This travelogue is a classic description of parts of Cambodia, Laos, and Siam in the Reign of King Mongkut. Henri Mouhot is best known for re-discovering the ruins of Angkor Wat (the Khmers have of course always known about the ruins) thus, indirectly, causing a minor tourist boom there. His exploration first comprised the central area of Siam and the southeastern seaboard (Chantaburi), from there he reached Cambodia and the provinces then under Siamese Government’s control around the Tonle Sap. He also ventured into areas of Annam (present-day Central Vietnam) inhabited by “wild” tribes but returned to Battambang and Angkor, and eventually to Bangkok. Another journey took him to Petchaburi on the eastern part of the upper peninsula. His last journey covered the so-called Lao parts of Siam, now referred to as Isan, but at that time only loosely associated with the nation. His final destination was Luang Prabang. Part of his journey was originally published in the travel magazine Le Tour du Monde, but the present English version is more comprehensive in coverage.

Mouhot, Henri; Travels in Siam, Cambodia, Laos and Annam Vol. 2: Natural History Observations
Originally published as Travels in the Central Parts of lndo-China: Siam, Cambodia and Laos during the Years 1858, 1859 and 1860, this book offers a classic description of parts of Cambodia, Laos and Siam during the reign of King Mongkut. Volume 2 covers Mouhot’s scientific research that included: New Species of Mammals, Reptiles, Fresh-Water Fishes, Insects, and Shells, Atmospherical Observations, Translations of Chinese Tales and Fables, The Damier, or Cape Pigeon, and The Albatross, as well as Cambodian Vocabulary, Letters from H. Mouhot, Letters addressed to H. Mouhot, Letters addressed to the Family of H. Mouhot and a Paper read at the Royal Geographical Society.

Sarraut, Albert; Indochina
Indochina is a reprint of the 1930 edition, with photographs mostly from the turn of the century. The French colonizers used the term Indochine to denote their political expansion of five bordering countries, namely, Laos, Cambodia, Cochinchina, with its capital at Saigon, Annam, with its capital at Hue, and Tonkin, with its capital at Hanoi. The introductory text, which was originally in French and has now been translated into English, was conceived bearing in mind the potential visitor and tourist to the region. Tourism was promoted to generate revenue and what better way was there to accomplish this than by depicting beautiful pictures of the landscape and its exotic people. The ninety-six original illustrations are supplemented by ninety-six postcards, dating back to the early 1900s, also known as the golden age of postcards. They portray the indigenous people, architecture, landscapes and other characteristics of the five countries that comprised Indochina.

Slocomb, Margaret; Colons and Coolies: The Development of Cambodia's Rubber Plantations
Recounts the history of the development of Cambodia’s rubber industry during the 1920s and 1930s. Using archival material from the era of the French Protectorate, it examines how French capital combined with Khmer land and Tonkinese labour to transform the red lands of the eastern plateaus of Cambodia into vast plantations. The book argues that the model of capitalistic colonisation—rational, bureaucratic, profit-driven, and divorced from traditional agricultural practices—established by the French remains the model for indigenous colonisation by the ruling elite in Cambodia today for large scale agribusinesses involving logging, fishing, cash and export crops such as palm oil and cashews, and further rubber plantations.