Readers competent to read Thai, Cambodian, and Vietnamese sources are di-
rected to the appropriate footnote references in the text. This brief essay will try
to select and evaluate a few major primary and secondary sources for Cambodian
history available in French and English. A reading knowledge of French is help-
ful for people interested in Cambodian history before 1954.

The best bibliographic introduction to Cambodia is Helen Jarvis, Cambodia ( Santa
Barbara, Calif., 1997), which provides astute commentary to its numerous cita-
tions. See also John Marston (comp.), An Annotated Bibliography of Cambodia and
Cambodian Refugees ( Minneapolis, 1987), and Charles R. Keyes useful Southeast
Asian Research Tools: Cambodia ( Honolulu, 1979). Another helpful compilation is
Russell R. Ross (ed.), Cambodia: A Country Study ( Washington, D.C., 1990). For a
brief, masterly reading of Cambodian history from a Marxist perspective, see
Michael Vickery, "Cambodia (Kampuchea): History, Tragedy, and an Uncertain
Future," Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 21, Nos. 2-4 (April-December
1989):35-58.

An early attempt to synthesize Cambodian history, relying heavily on chroni-
cle histories, is Adhémard Leclère Histoire du Cambodge ( Paris, 1914; repr. 1975).
Unfortunately, Leclère is cavalier in his use of sources and is difficult to verify.
Martin Herz wrote A Short History of Cambodia ( New York and London, 1958)
after serving in Phnom Penh as a U.S. Foreign Service officer; the chapters on the
1940s and 1950s are better than those dealing with earlier times. A more recent
synthesis, emphasizing early history, is Ian Mabbett and David Chandler, The
Khmers ( Oxford, 1995). David Chandler, Facing the Cambodian Past: Selected Essays
1971-1994 ( Chiangmai and Sydney, 1996), is a collection of essays about Cambo-
dia, largely historical in nature. The best brief synthesis of Cambodian culture in
a historical framework is still Solange Thierry Les Khmers ( Paris, 1964).

There are no serious studies of Cambodian urban life. Those that examine rural
conditions are dominated by Jean Delvert magisterial Le Paysan cambodgien
( Paris and the Hague, 1961). The most thorough examination of folk beliefs and
rituals in Cambodia is still E. Porée-Maspero three-volume study, Etude sur les
rites agraires des cambodgiens ( Paris and the Hague, 1962- 1969). See also Ang Choulean
, Les Etres surnaturels dans la religion populaire khmère ( Paris, 1986), and
Alain Forest, Le Culte des génies protecteurs au Cambodge ( Paris, 1992). Two good
monographic studies of village life are May Ebihara, Svay ( Ann Arbor, Mich.,

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