ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a summary of the history of the Khmer Rouge and their ascent to power in Cambodia, providing the reader with the requisite background information to understand the subject matter of the book. It includes a discussion of the five-year civil war and its impact on the population and the economy. This section also offers a depiction of rural life in the villages of Cambodia before the revolution (based on primary sources and the work of May Ebihara) and a description of the labor camps in Democratic Kampuchea, including the organizational structure and regional differences. This section is an addendum to the introduction, as it describes the regime and the labor camps, but it does not yet provide supporting data for the main arguments.
