Cambodia's circus and American baseball

Available for over a year

Two tales about how cultural occasions can illuminate a country's obsessions. Anne Caulfield, at a circus in Phnom Penh, finds one sophisticated friend's wild enthusiasm as poignant as the performers' tough life stories. The generation which survived Khmer Rouge rule might have had its childhood ruined, but even some of today's young Cambodians must struggle to beat hunger and violence. Simon Wilson, at a Washington Nationals baseball game in DC, get lessons in character from America's pastime. It turns out that even in a nation obsessed by success, you have to learn how to lose and live with failure.