Below is an easy-to-browse gallery
of books that cater to those who are interested in visiting Cambodia or learning
more about its ancient past. The majority of descriptions below are by independent
editors. Feel free to purchase these books directly from Amazon.com!
Angkor
the Magnificent - The Wonder City of Ancient Cambodia :
"The tale of it is incredible; the wonder which is Angkor is unmatched in
Asia." So begins Helen Churchill Candee's classic tale of Asian adventure.
Today, readers can again experience the mystery of Cambodia's vast jungle temples
through her eyes. Although Helen Candee is best known for surviving the sinking
of the RMS Titanic, she walked with kings, presidents, the wealthy and the powerful.
entertaining, educating and influencing them. This independent woman championed
feminine equality and fought tirelessly for woman's rights.
...Helen Candee's
travelogue remains one of the most evocative English language accounts of the
ancient Khmer capital. This expanded hardcover edition marks the first reissue
of her complete 1924 work with more than 100 antique illustrations, an index and
bibliography. For the first time in print, this edition also features an original
biography of Helen Candee by historian Randy Bryan Bigham, and a reprint of Candee's
original account of the Titanic disaster itself.
"This balanced, thorough, and revealing study of sacred space in an environment
threatened with destruction adds significantly to our knowledge of mensuration,
calendar keeping, and the architectural ex-presion of indigenous cosmological
ideas in a culture about which the western world knows to little." - Anthony
F. Aveni, - Russell B. Colgate Professor of Astronomy and Anthropology - Colgate
University.
An exquisitely illustrated history and exploration of Angkor, the world's most
astonishing architectural treasure. Built between the ninth and the thirteenth
centuries by a succession of twelve Khmer kings, Angkor spreads over 120 square
miles in Southeast Asia and includes scores of major architectural sites. In 802,
when construction began on Angkor Wat, with wealth from rice and trade, Jayavarman
ll took the throne, initiating an unparalleled period of artistic and architectural
achievement, exemplified in the fabled ruins of Angkor, center of the ancient
empire.
Among the amazing pyramid and mandala shaped shrines preserved
in the jungles of Cambodia, is Angkor Wat, the world's largest temple, an extraordinarily
complex structure filled with iconographic detail and religious symbolism... Angkor
is being reborn and is an increasingly popular tourist destination.
Undaunted
by the difficulties of traveling through Cambodia and eastern Thailand, Jon Ortner,
accompanied by his wife Martha, has photographed fifty of the most important and
unique monuments of the Khmer Empire. His images include spectacular views from
the rooftops of its temples, glorious landscapes, and details of inscriptions
and art that few have ever seen...
Magnum photographer Steve McCurry has beautifully and evocatively photographed
the temples of Angkor in Cambodia, among the world's most impressive monuments.
Over one hundred of his images of the site are collected in this stunning book,
which documents a magical world of carved gods, weathered masonry, tangled vegetation
and orange-robed monks.
Angkor was the capital of the Khmer rulers from
the end of the ninth century until the mid-fifteenth. Each built a state temple
at the capital, surrounded by walls, moats and embankments laid out in accordance
with cosmological precepts. Designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO, the temples
attract tourists, archaeologists and art historians, and are also a pilgrimage
destination for Buddhist monks...
The Khmer empire, which in its heyday extended across the whole of present-day
Cambodia as far west as Burma and north into Laos, flourished for at least five
hundred years. During that time, the many thousands of temples and shrines built
to glorify mainly Hindu gods, but also Buddhism, were carved with intricate stone
reliefs of immense size, complexity and artistry. In these pediments, lintels
and many miles of walls were portrayed the lives of legends of the Hindu gods,
adopted and transformed by the Khmer from Indian sources, and Buddhist themes,
particularly from the reign of the great Jayavarman VII.
"The tale of it is incredible; the wonder which is Angkor is unmatched in
Asia." So begins Helen Churchill Candee's classic tale of Asian adventure.
Today, readers can again experience the mystery of Cambodia's vast jungle temples
through her eyes. Although Helen Candee is best known for surviving the sinking
of the RMS Titanic, she walked with kings, presidents, the wealthy and the powerful.
entertaining, educating and influencing them. This independent woman championed
feminine equality and fought tirelessly for woman's rights.
"This balanced, thorough, and revealing study of sacred space in an environment
threatened with destruction adds significantly to our knowledge of mensuration,
calendar keeping, and the architectural ex-presion of indigenous cosmological
ideas in a culture about which the western world knows to little." - Anthony
F. Aveni, - Russell B. Colgate Professor of Astronomy and Anthropology - Colgate
University.
An exquisitely illustrated history and exploration of Angkor, the world's most
astonishing architectural treasure. Built between the ninth and the thirteenth
centuries by a succession of twelve Khmer kings, Angkor spreads over 120 square
miles in Southeast Asia and includes scores of major architectural sites. In 802,
when construction began on Angkor Wat, with wealth from rice and trade, Jayavarman
ll took the throne, initiating an unparalleled period of artistic and architectural
achievement, exemplified in the fabled ruins of Angkor, center of the ancient
empire. 
Features the most significant monuments of Angkor, showing the extraordinary achievements
of the Khmer civilization. 
Magnum photographer Steve McCurry has beautifully and evocatively photographed
the temples of Angkor in Cambodia, among the world's most impressive monuments.
Over one hundred of his images of the site are collected in this stunning book,
which documents a magical world of carved gods, weathered masonry, tangled vegetation
and orange-robed monks. 
The Khmer empire, which in its heyday extended across the whole of present-day
Cambodia as far west as Burma and north into Laos, flourished for at least five
hundred years. During that time, the many thousands of temples and shrines built
to glorify mainly Hindu gods, but also Buddhism, were carved with intricate stone
reliefs of immense size, complexity and artistry. In these pediments, lintels
and many miles of walls were portrayed the lives of legends of the Hindu gods,
adopted and transformed by the Khmer from Indian sources, and Buddhist themes,
particularly from the reign of the great Jayavarman VII. 
