Every Book Doesn't Need Pictures
File this under 'W' for 'We would've preferred it not to be illustrated.' William Grimes reviews Philip Short's Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare in today's Times and tells us:
Even among the most accomplished mass murderers of the last century, Pol Pot deserves a special place... In three years under the Khmer Rouge an estimated one and a half million Cambodians died, out of a total population of only seven million. Many were executed. Many more died of overwork, disease or starvation laboring quite literally as slaves to realize the political fantasies of their gently smiling, almost Buddha-like leader. For lethal speed and destructiveness, the Cambodian experiment stands alone and apart.
Oh, and there are illustrations? Goody!
Well, we should probably just be happy it's not a pop-up book.
