Prologue: The Largest Muslim Nation Part I Sukarno 1. Indonesia, the Devouring Nurturer 2. Guided Chaos 3. Ego, Voice, Vertigo 4. Mass Murder Part II Suharto 5. The Smile of Progress 6. The New Majapahit Empire 7. The Sound of Silence 8. The Last Years of Living Securely 9. Behind, Beyond, Beneath the Power Structure 10. Indonesia Burning Part III Succession 11. Forcing Out Suharto 12. Stroke 13. New Leaders, New Islam 14. Election 1999: Reds, Greens, Blues, Yellows 15. East Timor 16. Anarcho-Democracy Epilogue: Sukarno's Daughter in the Palace Chronology Sources Notes Glossary Index
A major work based on an incomparable first-person experience of a stunningly wide range of critical events and major personalities. Friend seems to have known everyone and been everywhere. -- Clifford Geertz
Theodore Friend, former President of Swarthmore College, and President Emeritus of Eisenhower Fellowships, is now a Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, Philadelphia. He was awarded the Bancroft Prize for his book on Philippine-American history, Between Two Empires. His other books include The Blue-Eyed Enemy and Family Laundry, a novel.
Of the major countries in Asia, Indonesia is the least known to Americans, and Friend, a distinguished educator and scholar, hopes to provide a sense of that country's history over the past half century for nonspecialists. He combines the knowledge of a well-connected insider with personal anecdotes gleaned from his travels to points scattered across this vast archipelago. Unfortunately, the result is disappointing-the book lacks cohesion, is poorly organized, and, in trying to cover everything of consequence, achieves far less than a more conventional approach might have. Too many of Friend's personal anecdotes are vapid and pointless, while his persona intrudes on the historical narrative rather than enriching it. Yet, because of his high-level informants, it is still valuable to readers who are already somewhat familiar with Indonesian history. For instance, his portrait of General Suharto, who ruled from 1966 to 1998, as a modern Javanese prince who presided over a thoroughly corrupted society is devastating. Readers interested in an introduction to the volatile and complex realities of modern Indonesia had better start elsewhere. An optional purchase.-Steven I. Levine, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
A major work based on an incomparable first-person experience of a
stunningly wide range of critical events and major personalities.
Friend seems to have known everyone and been everywhere. --
Clifford Geertz
An engaging romp through the 54 years of Indonesia's existence, its
scope is a broad one. Part personal memoir, part history, part
economic treatise, it makes for a useful (and bang up-to-date)
introduction to the unknown archipelago, particularly valuable in
light of the absence of much in the way of competition. * The
Economist *
Mr. Friend...succeeds in making Indonesia comprehensible because he
uses a wealth of contemporary Indonesian contacts to paint a lively
historical, sociological, anthropological and at times gossipy
portrait of the country...For those who know little about Indonesia
and for those who know much, this is a captivating rendition. --
Jane Perlez * New York Times *
For foreigners and Indonesians alike, Theodore Friend's book is a
rich informative source to better understand the country's
post-colonial history. This scholarly work has an engaging, often
reflective narrative style that is always full of details from
numerous interviews conducted since the writer first started
visiting the country, sometime in 1967-1968. -- Mohammad Sadli *
Jakarta Post *
This is an outstanding general history of Indonesia over the four
and a half decades since its troubled independence, won after 300
years of Dutch colonial rule. But it is also a reliable, insightful
guide to the dynamics of current Indonesian politics, and the
troubled but principled and (so far) surprisingly robust presidency
of Megawati Sukarnoputri...[Friend] enjoyed exceptional access to
the nation's key leaders during the dramatic transition to
democracy in 1998-2000. His consequent blending of scholarship and
hands-on direct experience informs every page of this book. --
Martin Sieff * Washington Times *
[Friend] combines scholarly analysis with vivid personal
recollections--of both important political players and ordinary
people. The result is a book of passionate engagement and
first-rate scholarship. -- Michael J. Ybarra * Wall Street Journal
*
Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, is extraordinarily
complex, and few books give so complete and vivid an introduction
as does this one. Friend, a masterly political scientist,
economist, and anthropologist and an insightful travelogue
observer, has met most of the major actors who have shaped
Indonesia since its independence and is thus able to bring them to
life...[He leaves] the reader with an informed understanding of
contemporary developments in this important but distant country. *
Foreign Affairs *
Indonesian Destinies offers a sustained treatment of
Indonesian history and society that rivals Adam Schwartz's A
Nation in Waiting as the most comprehensive overview of
political change in the country from independence to the present
day. It is appealingly modest in tone, simultaneously wideranging
and attentive to detail, and commendably generous towards other
Indonesia specialists, especially junior scholars. The book's
historical narrative is peppered with regular digressions on
important topics and with personal anecdotes from Friend's research
and travels in Indonesia over many decades. -- John Sidel * Times
Higher Education Supplement *
Theodore Friend, the former president of Swarthmore College and a
longtime observer of and participant in South-East Asian affairs,
[takes] a wide, historical view in his thoughtful and trustworthy
account of Indonesia from its creation out of the debris of a Dutch
colonial past...Because he seems to have read everything, been
nearly everywhere and met just about everyone, Friend proves
himself to be a worthy guide through the hopes and tragedies of
Indonesia's first fifty-odd years. -- Margaret Scott * Times
Literary Supplement *
Theodore Friend, a renowned scholar of Southeast Asian countries,
has written a balanced, fascinating, and richly illustrated book
about Indonesia. He records the views of presidents and generals,
but he also dwells 'on several individual Indonesians of no special
prominence because they illustrate ordinary lives with grace under
pressure, and because I like them.' The result of this combination
of personal anecdote and scholarly expertise is a kaleidoscopic
view of the successes and failures of Indonesia: 'sometimes
rarified aromas; too often, bloody reek. -- Vasuki Shastry *
Finance and Development *
Theodore Friend has written a most engaging book about Indonesia,
looking back over the first 50 years of Indonesian history,
profiling many of the people whom he met in the course of
researching the subject, and disarming the reader with frankly
stated opinions about any number of topics that come up along the
way. This is like no other book on Indonesia, far more scholarly
than the snapshots of journalists and far more revealing of the
author's open personality than most dissertations by academics. It
is a book to be savored by readers who already know Indonesia well
and to be read with profit by any who hope to join their company.
Friend is a genial guide a consummate reporter and an indefatigable
gatherer of the accounts of others Friend writes with clarity and
wit. -- John Bresnan * Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies *
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