In the Shadows of Utopia: The Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Nightmare

Apr 12 2025 40 ep. 95 mins 2.6k
In the Shadows of Utopia: The Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Nightmare Podcast artwork

A comprehensive, long-form history podcast about Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot Regime.

  History  Society & Culture  True Crime
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S3 Ep3: Pol Pot Rises

Apr 12 2025 88 mins  
Why was Duch released from prison on April 3rd, 1970? How did Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge transition from small guerrilla enclaves to administering huge areas of Cambodia? What exactly was “Independence Mastery,” and why was it so central to the Khmer Rouge mindset? Time Period Covered: April 1970 – July 1971 In this episode, we pivot from Lon Nol’s takeover to the Ca

S3 Ep2: The Invasion - Part Two: A Vietnamese War In Cambodia

Jan 26 2025 105 mins  
Why did Nixon invade Cambodia in May 1970? What impact did the 'Cambodian Incursion' have on the war in Vietnam? How did this effect Cambodia? Time Period Covered: May - June 1970 In part two of our discussion about the situation in Cambodia after the coup which pushed Sihanouk from power, we see how the Nixon Whitehouse responded to the crisis facing Cambodia. Lachlan asks wh

S3 Ep1: The Invasion - Part One: Counting Bodies Floating Down the Mekong

Jan 12 2025 82 mins  
What was the crisis facing the new Cambodian Government in April 1970? Why were the Vietnamese communities subjected to massacres? What circumstances led to a US invasion into Cambodia? Time Period Covered: April 1970 In this episode Lachlan explores the horrible aftermath of the coup against Sihanouk, a panicked new regime produced a pogrom against an innocent group of civilia

S2 Ep19: Season 2 Recap - Cambodian History from Independence to Civil War

Oct 22 2024 66 mins  
Lachlan takes you back through the more than 30 hours of Season 2's storyline that took us through 15 years of Cambodian history. Support the show at https://www.shadowsofutopia.com/support.html

S2 Ep18: A Cambodian Coup! The "Red Prince" Falls

Sep 13 2024 115 mins  
Were the CIA responsible for the coup against Sihanouk? Why did Lon Nol and Sirik Matak finally make a move against the prince? What did Sihanouk’s removal from power mean for the Khmer Rouge? Time Period Covered 1969 - 1970 In the final episode of this season, Lachlan covers the circumstances that surround the plot to remove Norodom Sihanouk from his position as head of stat

S2 Ep17: Death From Above 1969: Operation Menu and Nixon's Madman Theory

Aug 19 2024 122 mins  
How did Cambodia become the ‘key’ to Nixon’s plan to end the Vietnam War? What was the secret bombing of Cambodia? How many bombs did the US drop on Cambodia? What factors led to the end of Sihanouk’s leadership of the country? Time Period Covered 1968 - 1969 In this episode Lachlan looks at the gradually degrading situation in Cambodia, and the destabilization prior t

S2 Ep16: Interview: "Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot" with Elizabeth Becker

Jul 19 2024 77 mins  
How many journalists were able to set foot in Cambodia before the revolution, during the revolution and after the revolution? Not many. Elizabeth Becker is one of those people. In 1973 she began covering the war in Cambodia, in 1978 she was part of a three person delegation which saw the first western journalists to enter into Democratic Kampuchea. There she was witness to, as sh

S2 Ep15: Tet - Part Two: The My Lai Massacre

Jun 07 2024 139 mins  
What role does the Tet Offensive play in the My Lai Massacre? What circumstances in troop deployment and officer training influenced what happened? Why were more than 500 civilians murdered by Charlie Company? Time Period Covered December 1967 - March 1968 In this episode, Lachlan confronts the horrors that occurred in My Lai on the 16th of March 1968. He attempts to answer why

S2 Ep14: Interview: "Prisoners of Class" with Matt Madden

Mar 21 2024 78 mins  
Lachlan sits down with Matt Madden, translator of Chan Samoeun’s Prisoners of Class. The book, having been recently released in English for the first time, is an amazing example of a Khmer Rouge survivor memoir. They discuss Matt’s journey in finding the original book, meeting the author and translating it over many years. The book itself, including amazing details and descr

S2 Ep13: Tet - Part One: Hue

Feb 04 2024 92 mins  
What did the Tet offensive achieve? How was the Battle of Hue waged? Why were almost 3000 people murdered by the Viet Cong? Time Period Covered 1968 This episode covers the Tet Offensive of early 1968. Lachlan links the media coverage of the event, with the extreme scenes in Saigon, to the reality of the offensive and what the communists hoped to achieve. In Hue, perhaps the mo