Books

OVERBOOKED

Overbooked CoverPublished by Simon and Schuster

Amazon names Overbooked one of the best nonfiction books of the year – number 15 out of 20

In this ground-breaking work, Elizabeth Becker investigates the trillion-dollar travel and tourism industry hiding behind the glamour pages of travel magazines. Since the end of the Cold War opened up the world’s borders to tourists and new technology made travel affordable, the industry has become a behemoth, changing the environment, culture, entire countries and our future. The business — with airplanes and trains, hotels and resorts, travel agents and governments — contributes $7 trillion to the world economy every year and employes one out of every 10 of the world’s workers. Countries increasingly turn to tourism to boost their economies; those struggling out of poverty like Sri Lanka and those hoping to hold onto their wealth like Ireland. One billion tourists now travel the globe every year. Everything can be packaged as a tour: medical tourism to genocide tourism, family roots tourism to food tourism. Some countries like France use tourism to support their culture, others like Cambodia allow it to undermine theirs. In an evocative narrative Becker travels the world — aboard a cruise ship interviewing poorly paid workers and then the company’s c.e.o.; snorkeling with Costa Rican biologists who practice ecotourism; following Chinese tour guides reading from a politically correct script, and going on a glorious safari in Zambia where wildlife parks are still endangered. Slowly she shifts our viewpoint, turning the idle pleasures of travel inside out to reveal the juggernaut of the industry.

WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER

When to War Was Over CoverPublished by PublicAffairs Books

Now a classic, “the definitive book on the Cambodian revolution” (Los Angeles Times Book Review) and winner of a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER is a synthesis of scholarly and journalistic investigation. Becker covered the Cambodian war, later was one of only two reporters allowed into Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge where she interviewed Pol Pot. Her extensive new chapter explains how the Khmer Rouge avoided trial for 25 years, thanks in part to China, the U.S., Europe and the politics of the Cold War.

BOPHANA

BophanaPublished by Cambodia Daily Press

Bophana is the true story of the young woman who became a rare heroine of the Khmer Rouge era by refusing to abandon her love for her husband. Bophana’s unforgettable life and death bring the story of Cambodia’s war and Khmer Rouge revolution into full and intimate detail, showing how peace led to war led to revolution and her death along with millions of others. Bophana’s story doesn’t end there, however. Nearly one decade after she was killed at Tuol Sleng, Elizabeth Becker retrieved her file for the Khmer Rouge torture center and introduced Bophana to the world, inspiring the award-winning film by Rithy Panh that in turn helped make Bophana something of the Anne Frank of Cambodia. Cambodia’s film archive, the Bophana Institute, is named in her honor.

Available only in Cambodia in English, French and Khmer languages.

AMERICA’S VIETNAM WAR

America's Vietnam WarA Narrative History for young adults
Published by Clarion Books

This investigation of our country’s involvement in the IndoChinese wars from 1950 to 1975 includes Vietnam’s history and shows how the U.S. entered the conflict, first as an advisor to and then as a full ally of South Vietnam.