Pol Pot

by Andy Koopmans

Born the son of peasant farmers whose connections with the royal palace afforded him a European education, Pol Pot became the leader of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, or the Khmer Rouge. As such, he and his followers were ultimately responsible for the deaths of an estimated 2 to 4 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979 and untold numbers between 1979 and his death in 1998. Despite his bloody resume, most who knew him from childhood onward, found Pol Pot to be a pleasant, affable, and sweet-natured person. In following his life, this book looks at the contradictions, the mysteries, and myths that surround this compelling figure.

112 pages, Hardcover

First published February 18, 2005

About the author

Andy is the author of sixteen non-fiction titles, including histories of the Leopold & Loeb trial, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Blues, and biographies of figures including Bruce Lee, Charles Manson, Pol Pot, and Nelson Mandela. He is also the editor of a volume of essays, Examining Pop Culture: Crime and Criminals.

Andy is also a fiction writer, essayist, and poet with publications in journals and anthologies including Black Scat Noir, Black Scat Review, Sunshine Noir II, Fiction International, Central Park, The Southern Anthology, Collage & Bricolage, The Journal of Experimental Fiction, Conceptions Southwest, Heaven Bone, and others. He is the author of two fiction collections: Narrative Cult Visions (1997 MFA thesis) and The Veronicas of Our Own Perversions (2024).