Since the Bali bombings of 2002 and the rise of political Islam, Indonesia has frequently occupied media headlines. Nevertheless, the history of the fourth largest country on earth remains relatively unknown. Adrian Vickers' book, first published in 2005, traces the history of an island country, comprising some 240 million people, from the colonial period through revolution and independence to the present. Framed around the life story of Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Indonesia's most famous and controversial novelist and playwright, the book journeys through the social and cultural mores of Indonesian society, focusing on the experiences of ordinary people. In this new edition, the author brings the story up to date, revisiting his argument as to why Indonesia has yet to realise its potential as a democratic country. He also examines the rise of fundamentalist Islam, which has haunted Indonesia since the fall of Suharto.

Looks at the development of Indonesia, from its origins in 1945 to the present day

This fourth edition of M. C. Ricklefs' classic work on the history of Indonesia reflects the fruits of the latest research and brings the story up to the present day. In a single volume, readers gain an insight into the complexities of the world's largest archipelago - a land of vibrant cultures and dynamic history, but also one of violence, oppressive governments and immense challenges.

Dealing with New Order perceptions of the past this study gives insights into how the past can be used for purposes of national-building and regime legitimization and into the nature of the New Order. The Suharto regime created a coherent history that is reflected in recent archaeological and historical research, in popular histories and biographies, in monuments and in school textbooks. The author describes an official history stretching from the proto-Indonesia of Majapahit, through the Indonesian Revolution up to the birth of the New Order in 1965. He also gives a counterview to this history stressing Indonesia's place in the larger Islamic world. The past emphasized political stability and national unity under the guidance of the military and socially disruptive ideas were to be avoided.

Counter In this second edition, all parts of the book have been revised and sections added wherever new research has required this, greater attention has been given to economic issues, and two new chapters have been written on the period since 1965. The bibliography has been brought completely up to date. Indonesia is the forth most populous nation of the earth and a major producer of oil and other resources. It is also the most populous nation of the Islamic world and at the same time heir to vigorous pre-Islamic traditions and complex cultural heritages of the many islands which make up the Republic. Its colourful history, from the coming of Islam c. 1300 to the present day, is described in this comprehensive work. The emphasis throughout the book is on the history of the Indonesian peoples themselves. An essential narrative of political history is provided as well as discussions of social, cultural and economic affairs. Chapter bibliographies are included to guide readers to the most recent scholarly works on the subject. Behind this structure, the book poses the important question of how the diverse but related linguistic and ethnic communities of the Indonesian archipelago became a unified nation. Attention is therefore given first to those influences which set the scene for the post-1300 era of Indonesian history: the spread of Islam; early European contact; the emergence of the new Indonesian states and the variety of indigenous cultural, literary and religious traditions. The turbulent seventeenth century and eighteenth centuries are then analysed in terms of the largely inconclusive struggles for hegemony among Indonesian states and the Dutch. The nineteenth century saw Dutch colonial rule gradually imposed throughout the archipelago, and the twentieth century opened with quite new issues which were by now common to most of the peoples of Indonesia. Islamic revivalism and anti-colonial movements further helped to draw Indonesia together, a process which culminated in the revolution and independence. Since then, Indonesia's unification has made many achievements possible, but has not prevented the emergence of persistence of serious problems. Without political or religious bias, using both western and Indonesian sources, this history assists the serious study of both the past and the present of this beautiful and important Southeast Asian nation.

Indonesia is now the fourth largest country in the world, but many aspects of its economic history remain poorly understood. This book is the first comprehensive survey of Indonesian economic history in the 19th and 20th centuries, examining both the Dutch colonial era, and the post-independence period. Extensive use is made of recent work by Dutch, Indonesian and Australian scholars to develop a number of key themes relating to economic growth and structural transformation of the Indonesian economy from the early 19th century to the present.

These two memoirs provide windows into the Sumatran past, in particular, and the early 20th-century history of south-east Asia, in general. In reconstructing their own passage into adulthood, the writers tell the story of their country's turbulent journey to independence.