This is the story of an ancient dynasty of rulers who used their divine command to build one of the wonders of the world...of architects who designed temples in which they never worshipped...of willing peasants who tied themselves, twenty-five at a time, to giant sandstone blocks and hauled them miles to be carved into friezes they would never see. Scorning trade, militant only when forced to fight, the Khmers were a people as unique in life-style as in art. Christopher Pym describes them as they lived, labored, and lost their world--and left a heritage to modern Cambodia that still stands, magnificent and unparalleled, in the 20th century.