First They Killed My Father

One of seven children of a government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five.Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung’s family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed.

Angelia Jolie Pitt’s film adaption of Loung Ung’s memoir will release as a Netflix Original film.

Freshman Common Read: Ball State University, Colin County Community College, Stanford’s Three-Book Program, Texas A&M University, University of Missouri