I just finished “Cambodia’s Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land” by Joel Brinkley, a Stanford journalism prof, former NY Times reporter/editor & Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for his work during fall of Khmer Rouge. It investigates the country & its people & how history has impacted the modern day state. You know, some light reading during my travels. Haha. I’m not going to lie, it’s a frustrating read at times & one that I had to periodically put down bc I was pretty disgusted w some of its revelations. But I kept coming back as it’s a fascinating read into the Cambodia culture & the current still-sickening state of its political environment. Even while visiting the country, I was unaware of some of the more recent history & this book really puts some things I saw into perspective. I would consider myself a relatively informed person & yet living in our shielded US-centric society, I was blissfully unaware of the sad state of affairs still plaguing today’s Cambodia. A few of you previously commented you wish you had learned more about it so I thought I’d recommend the read.