Many nations suffered dark histories that left sad legacies. Many of those same nations are ruled by leaders who mistreat their people now. But no other people lived though an era when their own leaders killed one quarter of the population, leaving a national legacy of depression and serious mental illnesses—only to find that when the offending government fell, avaricious and uncaring leaders replaced it.

You quote an opposition leader saying Cambodia today is "just like the Kingdom again, but now it's the twenty-first century." What did he mean?

The kings of Angkor 1,000 years ago expended vast personal wealth building temples and palaces. For their subjects, they built only the roads, bridges, and reservoirs needed to grow the rice that sustained their wealth. Today in Bon Skol village, east of Phnom Penh, the village chief does not hesitate when asked what the government does for his people now: "The roads, the bridges, the wells."

You call the nation's current rulers uncaring. What do you mean?

Millions cannot afford enough food to avoid malnutrition. So children suffer stunting, meaning they will grow up short and not very smart. But travel the corridors of power in Phnom Penh, and you'll find Cambodia's only portly people: senior government ministers. Their diets are rich in fatty foods. Their obesity serves as an emblem of their wealth—just as it did for noblemen in ancient times.