Monograph by D. V. Mosyakov " History of Cambodia. XX century" (Moscow, YVES RAS, 2010, 47 pp.) - in fact, the first scientific attempt in Russian historiography to systematically describe, based on historical sources, more than a century of Cambodian history - from the transformation of the country into a French protectorate in 1863 to the general elections to the parliament of the Kingdom of Cambodia in 2003 city of The work is based on a comprehensive and thorough study of various, authoritative and highly representative sources. The unique documents of the Russian State Archive of Contemporary Political History (RGASPI) and the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation (WUA of the Russian Federation), which were first introduced by the author into scientific circulation, deserve special mention. On the pages of this voluminous book, the author unhurriedly, thoroughly and at the same time accurately documents the fascinating, turbulent history of Cambodia, which is practically unknown to our readers. The author's fascination with the subject of his research is also involuntarily transmitted to the reader, because it is known that when it is interesting to write, the reader is interested in reading, and when the author yawns, the reader sleeps. The well-documented and well-written first and second chapters follow in detail the process of French colonization and political modernization of Cambodia during the French protectorate era (1863-1945). The value of the conclusions drawn by the author in these chapters is high due to the fact that the history of colonialism received extremely biased and biased coverage in Soviet historiography. This imposes a special responsibility on historians who deal with this issue. They must provide truthful answers, based not on myths and stereotypes, but on reliable facts, to a number of pressing questions, including the role of colonial conquest and its impact on the direction and pace of development of the conquered coun ... Read more