Thank you for creating this :)

A well thought out and responsible account of history that lead to one of humanities greatest follies. Worth the listen. One point of critique; The narrator had stated there is a finite amount of wealth and resources. Material resources can be finite, but by no means is wealth zero sum. That is a large economic misconception which leads to many poor ideas, including communism, that those who have more than others do so at the cost of others having less. When the truth is that wealth can be created, not just transferred. An excellent reference to this is in Steven Pinker’s book: Enlightenment Now. Keep in mind I also question a lit of ideas from this book, but great points are made.

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Incredibly storytelling

This is one of best historical storytelling podcast series ever. As a student of Cambodian history I really appreciate the author’s ability to set and put the listener in the situation and flesh out context of what is happening around characters and events and what is happening to the characters and events. I felt I was time traveling and was with these accounts of historical figures at that time. The amount of historical details is breathtaking and incredible! Im looking forward to season 2. Great job!

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An absolute masterpiece of popular history

Where to start? In the Shadows of Utopia is stunningly good. It feels like this podcast was created as a cosmic gift to me. For more than half my life I have pursued an amateur interest in twentieth-century Cambodian history, learning the language, reading books, visiting places, meeting people, trying to wrap my head around what happened, how, and why. And then I found this amazing podcast. This podcast is the single greatest synthesis of modern Cambodian history available. It pulls together a lot of threads into a coherent narrative that is extremely compelling, that helps to contextualize, to picture, to imagine, and to understand all the events of that history in a way that no other resource ever has. And all without skimping on details. (My one, teensy critique is that Khmer names and words are delivered oddly sometimes. But that is a minor and personal quibble, maybe even an endearing quirk, compared to the absolute wealth of content that is In the Shadows of Utopia.)

I personally place a very high value on the ability to explain something complex in a way that makes it accessible and understandable. I believe that almost any complex subject, given the right talented individual, can be explained in a way that opens it up and makes it accessible to other people. This involves not just explaining or telling information, but painting mental pictures. For history in particular, it includes helping someone to imagine a scenario in real life and to unlock an understanding of that event as a believable real-world happening, not just a constellation of cold facts, through that imagining. (For me, that also means a passion for nitty-gritty contextual details, and using them to bring events to life and ground them in the actual world.) And it includes the use of great examples and great metaphors to unfold and illuminate. Lachlan Peters is a master at all of this, and pushes all of the right buttons. It is these talents, combined with his obvious, palpable passion for the topic itself, that makes his podcast so effective in unlocking this topic so deftly, and so compelling to listen to. (Also, the theme music is awesome and enhances the production.)

What an absolute treasure. I rejoice at the existence of this podcast, and my fortune in having discovered it. I can barely wait for more episodes.

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Intriguing story-sublime storytelling

Peters is the epitome of the historical story teller. Though he admits to not being a professional historian, you wouldn’t otherwise know it based on his astute organizational skills of complicated history that can be confusing. The history of the Khmer Rouge and Cambodia is not a history that needs to be embellished and is fascinating on its own, which is why Peters’s skills as a storyteller stand out so much. Many professional and amateur historians strive to break apart historical events into digestible chunks that keep consumers interested and often fall short, but not Peters. His podcast is not only hooks the listeners in, but is incredibly accurate and true to the history of Cambodians. His podcasts, while thorough, sorts complex ideologies and chronology in ways that make history accessible to more people. This is a wonderful podcast that focuses on often misunderstood or untold stories that must be told. 10/10 will recommend to others. Great job, Mr. Peters.

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Incredible

Absolutely fantastic podcast. Well researched and a host with credentials to talk about this stuff.

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Spectacular history well told

This is a breathtakingly good explanation of the Khmer Rouge and indeed the history of Indochina. Chock full with several jaw-dropping revelations. History comes vividly alive here.

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So informative

A complex history spanning centuries told in an engaging, informative and enlightening way. I would have loved to have had this as a companion while I was traveling in Cambodia.

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The complete context the Khmer Rouge

The only downside was that it could have used more citations since this is a subject where people are going to want to change history and more citations will give the listener a chance to verify.
I must say that the deep historical story of the region and the people gave much more insight to the whole story than I would have thought. compared to the gulag archipelago (about Russia) this series gave a lot more history and a lot less detailed description of the horrors although there was plenty of that.

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super in depth

I stumbled acrossed this podcast while doing a research paper on the Wests responsibility for the rise of the Khmer Rouge. (I was in way over my head lol) This is a great podcast that covers all the reasons why the Khmer Rouge happened, and includes and interview with David Chandler who is considered *the* expert on this. I've binge listened to all the old episodes, and look forward to new ones, and its reinforced my interest in this area of study

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Great history podcast.

I have been really enjoying this podcast. It is very well researched and narrated.

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