ANKOR: Heart of an Asian Empire ...

ANKOR: Heart of an Asian Empire by Bruno Dagens, translated from the French by Ruth Sharman (Abrams: $12.95; 191 pp., illustrated, paperback original). Dagens presents a survey of Western perceptions of Ankor, rather than a history of the civilization that built the vast complex of ruins. The first European observers in the 17th Century were awed by the Gargantuan facades hidden in the Cambodian jungle. Wonder soon gave way to a patronizing superiority that resulted in the misinterpretation of pictorial motifs and the creation of fanciful replicas for international exhibitions; a genuine appreciation for Khmer art only developed in the 20th Century.