‘Woman of Angkor’ Imagines Historic Era

“Woman of Angkor,” by retired American journalist John Burgess, took 10 years to write. But Burgess’s love of the period started much earlier: he first visited the Angkor complex in 1969. Burgess told VOA Khmer at a recent book reading in Washington that the temples have ever since captivated him. “I would love for Angkor to become better known in the world,” said John Burgess, a former assistant foreign editor for the Washington Post. “In the western world, we all grow up knowing about ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and ancient Rome. We know who were the great kings, what were some of the historical events, but the Angkor civilization is very much the equal of those civilizations in terms of Gloria and grandiose and construction and arts and yet almost no body in this country knows about Angkor. So, I hope that through this book a few more people will become familiar with this great great civilization.” (Im Sothearith, Washington)