Earth in Flower

The Divine Mystery of the Cambodian Dance Drama

by Paul Cravath

Begin with the subtitle, focus on divine, and you will capture the essence of this extraordinary book. The story of its publication is remarkable as well. In 1974, a few years after the coup that deposed King Sihanouk, the Ministry of Culture engaged researcher Paul Cravath of the University of Hawaii to document the rich history of Cambodian dance. Having been provided unprecedented access to the royal dance archives, teachers, and dancers, Cravath immersed himself in his research until the country fell to the Khmer Rouge a mere twelve weeks later. Forced to evacuate Phnom Penh, but fortunately with his primary research intact, Cravath continued his study and eventually submitted the research in late 1984 as the basis of his doctoral thesis.

Twenty years later, a serendipitous phone call from another researcher, Kent Davis, led Cravath to dig his research papers out of storage. Like a beautiful butterfly emerging from a dormant chrysalis, Earth in Flower began its journey toward publication. Davis was so impressed with the academic and historical value of Cravath’s work, he shepherded the document through the process of publication. We are the fortunate recipients of their fortuitous meeting.