City of the God-Kings: Angkor Wat and the Khmer Empire: The Greatest Temple Complex on Earth and the Civilization That Built It (Lost Cities & Forgotten Empires)

Deep in the Cambodian jungle, a civilization once built mountains of stone to house its gods — and then, without warning, disappeared. City of the God-Kings: Angkor Wat and the Khmer Empire is the definitive popular history of one of the ancient world's most breathtaking achievements, told with the pace of a thriller and the authority of serious scholarship.For eight centuries, the Khmer Empire commanded a vast hydraulic civilization, engineering an intricate network of reservoirs, canals, and temples across the Angkor plain. At its peak, Angkor was among the largest pre-industrial cities on Earth. Then it was swallowed by jungle, leaving explorers and archaeologists to ask a question that still haunts researchers today: how does a civilization powerful enough to reshape an entire landscape simply vanish?This book follows the full arc of Khmer history — from its pre-Angkorian origins through the reigns of warrior god-kings like Jayavarman II, Suryavarman II, and Jayavarman VII — grounding every chapter in verified archaeological evidence and the latest discoveries from LiDAR aerial surveys and the Greater Angkor Project. Where scholars disagree, the book tells you so honestly, presenting competing theories without dumbing them down.The writing is cinematic and immersive, placing you in the heat of the Cambodian plain, inside the shadow of Angkor Wat's towers, and at the center of one of history's great unsolved mysteries. No academic background required — only curiosity.If you've ever been captivated by lost civilizations, ancient empires, or the archaeology of the forgotten world, this is the book you've been waiting for. Pick up City of the God-Kings today and discover the empire that refused to stay buried. Read more