Description
Book SynopsisA story of staggering scope and drama, Revolusi is the masterful and definitive account of the epic revolution that sparked the decolonisation of the modern world.
'Astounding . . . history at its best' Yuval Harari
'Utterly compelling' Financial Times
'Superb' Guardian
On a sunny Friday morning in August 1945, a handful of tired people raised a homemade cotton flag and on behalf of 68 million compatriots announced the birth of a new nation: Indonesia.
Four million civilians had died during the Japanese wartime occupation that ousted its Dutch colonial regime. Another 200,000 people would lose their lives in the astonishingly brutal conflict that ensued - as the Dutch used savage violence to reassert their control, and as Britain and America became embroiled in pacifying Indonesia's guerrilla war of resistance: the 'Revolusi'. It was not until December 1949 that the newly created United Nations finally brought the conflict an end - and with it, 350 years of colonial rule - setting a precedent that would reshape the world.
Drawing on hundreds of interviews and eye-witness testimonies, David Van Reybrouck turns this vast and complex story into an utterly gripping narrative that is alive with human detail at every turn. A landmark publication, Revolusi shows Indonesia's struggle for independence to be one of the defining dramas of the twentieth century.
'A magnificent fusion of oral history, sparkling analysis, and historical wisdom. Revolusi has it all: a masterpiece' SEBASTIAN MALLABY
'One of the most unlikely and astonishing sagas ... a towering achievement' THOMAS MEANEY
'A magisterial but gripping account of events of urgent importance to us now' JASON BURKE
'At once vast and intimate, a history in colour' LAKSMI PAMUNTJAK
'A masterly display of the historian’s craft' J M COETZEE
'A wonderful and important book' PETER FRANKOPAN
Trade ReviewAn astounding feat of both research and storytelling. History at its best -- Yuval Harari
A long overdue and utterly compelling narrative history of the birth of Indonesia . . . unfolds over a vast geopolitical canvas and yet never falters . . . It is as intricate as the waterways of the archipelago and yet it hums along, like a steamer on the Java Sea, propelled by the stories of its astonishing cast * Financial Times *
A wonderful and important book. David Van Reybrouck has written an authoritative and powerful history of Indonesia that not only reframes the birth of a nation but helps challenge ideas about the end of the European Age of Empire -- Peter Frankopan
A magnificent fusion of oral history, sparkling analysis, and historical wisdom.
Revolusi has it all: a masterpiece -- Sebastian Mallaby
Relating the story of this place is . . . a mammoth task, requiring a monumental research effort. This is what the Belgian historian David Van Reybrouck has achieved in his superb history,
Revolusi * Guardian *
