I got this book, because I was interested in learning more about the Khmer Rouge. I certainly learned a lot. I hadn't really known much about this to begin with, but this book covered the entire lifespan of Pol Pot. It did a deep dive into his ideals and how he came to have them, which I found very interesting. There was a LOT of politics and things of that nature mentioned in this book, so if you are tired of politics, steer clear. Over a million Cambodians were executed or died of starvation, and the means of execution were really quite brutal. It reminded me a lot of the Japanese activities in Nanking during World War Two in terms of brutality against civilians. Overall, this was a good book.