Not everyone cares about what happens to other people, so I cannot say whether or not you should care about this story. What I can say is that I wish I could tap into your passion and leverage it to make the world a better place.

Another thing I can say in general is, no book should be judged by its cover. A lousy book may waste a few hours of your time, but if it turns out to be a great book then it may widen your perspective.

This book has proven its usefulness. The readers have found the story intimately sad, endearingly funny, and ultimately inspiring. Many of the readers have come together and helped me form the Golden Leaf Education Foundation to build and donate schools in memory of the genocide victims and in memory of the survivors. Please click here to go to GLEF website.

Here’s a photo album of what some readers and I have done thus far: Building school in Cambodia.

I would like to invite you to watch these video clips to learn more about the power of this story and how it can make the world a better place. Please click here.

If you are a fan of Deadlest Warrior, I would also like to encourage you to watch full episode of Saddam Hussein vs. Pol Pot.

I hope you remain curious about the Golden Leaf story and how it is leveraged to make the world a better place.

-Kilong Ung, Author of “Golden Leaf: A Khmer Rouge Genocide Survivor”

I knew the author in a Khmer peoples displaced persons camp in Thailand in 1979, when he escaped from Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge genocide. He is a fine person and this is a great book and Kilong Ung is a great Khmer American and a great human being.

I do not understand at all the response of the first comments here.

I commend this journal for this book review and the reviewer. I go to Cambodia each year several times and speak basic Khmer. The scary thing is that many under 30 year old Khmers are not told about the Khmer Rouge and the regime now downplays this sad chapter in Khmer history. “for those who don’t know history, they are condemned to repeat it” – that is why we should all care about this book. Mike C.