Short's biography of Pol Pot and the rise/fall of the Khmer Rouge is certainly as comprehensive as able (sadly deficient only on a deeper picture of the dictator himself), but not particularly riveting. The first 200 pages is entirely set-up, boringly disjointedly so, with a confusing array of people interchangably called by multiple names and theories of communism that were often incomprehensible even to a former political science student. You can see how the conclusions come together if you can power through the beginning, but Short could've benefited from a stricter editor and possibly a different title more relevant to the all-encompassing story.