by Loung Ung
—QUEEN NOOR
“Despite the tragedy all around her, this scrappy kid struggles for life and beats the odds. I thought young Ung’s story would make me sad. But this spunky child warrior carried me with her in her courageous quest for life. Reading these pages has strengthened me in my own struggle to disarm the powers of violence in this world.”
—SISTER HELEN PREJEAN, CSJ, author of Dead Man Walking
“In this gripping narrative Loung Ung describes the unfathomable evil that engulfed Cambodia during her childhood, the courage that enabled her family to survive, and the determination that has made her an eloquent voice for peace and justice in Cambodia. It is a tour de force that strengthens our resolve to prevent and punish crimes against humanity.”
—U.S. Senator PATRICK LEAHY, congressional leader on human rights and a global ban on land mines
“Loung has written an eloquent and powerful narrative as a young witness to the Khmer Rouge atrocities. This is an important story that will have a dramatic impact on today’s readers and inform generations to come.”
—DITH PRAN, whose wartime life was portrayed in the award-winning film The Killing Fields
“This is a harrowing, compelling story. Evoking a child’s voice and viewpoint, Ung has written a book filled with vivid and unforgettable details. I lost a night’s sleep to this book because I literally could not put it down, and even when I finally did, I lost another night’s sleep just from the sheer, echoing power of it.”
—LUCY GREALY, author of Autobiography of a Face
“[Ung] tells her stories straightforwardly, vividly, and without any strenuous effort to explicate their importance, allowing the stories themselves to create their own impact.”
—New York Times
“A harrowing true story of the nightmare world that was Cambodia.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Ung’s memoir should serve as a reminder that some history is best not left just to historians, but to those left standing when the terror ends.”
—Booklist
“An important book … a harrowing book, a book you will read through tears.”
—Denver Post
“Ung touchingly recounts her survival, courage, and triumph.”
—Daily News
“Skillfully constructed, this account also stands as an eyewitness history of the period, because as a child Ung was so aware of her surroundings, and because as an adult writer she adds details to clarify the family’s moves and separations. …This powerful account is a triumph.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Chillingly evocative … a straightforward, unblinking account.”
—Dallas Morning News
“The details … burn like a brand.”
—Sonoma County Independent
“Heart-wrenching. … [Ung’s] memoir will find a valued place in the literature of genocide.”
—Houston Chronicle
“Few books take us through the hellish journey as seen by children—and as deep inside their confused and angry hearts.”
—San Jose Mercury News
“Many memoirs are half hearsay … Loung Ung’s is all firsthand; she remembers a horrific time with the pitiless precision of childhood.”
—Riverside Press-Enterprise
Also by Loung Ung
Lucky Child:
A Daughter of Cambodia Reunites with the Sister She Left Behind
first they killed my father
Copyright
A hardcover edition of this book was published in 2000 by HarperCollins Publishers.
P. S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER. Copyright © 2000 by Loung Ung.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © JULY 2010 ISBN: 978-0-062-03654-4
The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows:
Ung, Loung.
First they killed my father : a daughter of Cambodia remembers / Loung Ung.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-06-019332-8
1. Cambodia—Politics and government—1975–1979. 2. Political atrocities—Cambodia. 3. Ung, Loung. 1. Title.
DS554.8.U54 2000 99-34707
959.604′2—dc21
ISBN-10:0-06-085626-2 (pbk.)
ISBN-13:978-0-06-085626-7 (pbk.)
06 07 08 09 10 /RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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