Jaime James, Los Angeles Times Book Review
. . . . Taylor’s. . . .approach challenges and opens the mind. . . . [She] is a voluptuous writer.
Choice
. . . . One great historical essay. . . . [that] provides insight into the many levels of Indonesian history and society.
Book Description
Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world. It comprises more than 17,000 islands inhabited by 230 million people who speak over 300 different languages. Now the world’s largest Muslim nation, Indonesia remains extraordinarily heterogeneous due to the waves of immigration—Buddhist, Hindu, Arab, and European—that have defined the region’s history. Fifty years after the collapse of Dutch colonial rule, Indonesia is a nation in the midst of dramatic upheaval. In this broad survey, Jean Gelman Taylor explores the connections between the nation’s many communities, and the differences that propel contemporary breakaway movements. Drawing on a broad range of sources, including art, archaeology, and literature, Taylor provides a historical overview from the prehistoric period to the present day. The text is enlivened by brief "capsule" histories on topics ranging from pepper to Maharajas to smallpox. This ambitious book—the first new history of Indonesia written in over twenty years—will be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of Southeast Asia and the future stability of the region.
About the Author
Jean Gelman Taylor is a senior lecturer in history at the University of New South Wales.
Indonesia: Peoples and Histories FROM THE PUBLISHER
Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, is now in the midst of dramatic upheaval. This history of Indonesia provides an overview from the prehistoric period to the present and explores the connections between the nation's many communities and the differences that propel contemporary breakaway movements.
FROM THE CRITICS
Foreign Affairs
This is a rich and fascinating excursion into Indonesian history that is guided not by the usual commanding authority of political events, but by the story of how different peoples, as communities, have interacted over the centuries to produce an Indonesia that, although diverse, can also be called a nation. The focus is on social, economic, and religious developments, with the social aspect including court life from ancient times through Dutch rule and the dominant figures of post-independence Indonesia. Taylor is able to cram all sorts of nuggets of Indonesian lore and theoretical insights into her book through the use of nearly a hundred "capsules" — sets of brief paragraphs set off from the text by frames. The capsules range from such historical puzzles as why the Javanese population mushroomed so early, before the advent of the standard twentieth-century causes of population growth, to how "Indianization" took place in different parts of Indonesia, from the spread of Islam and the evolution of caliphs and sultans, and to many, many more esoteric matters that deserve to be more than just footnotes. Taylor is clearly a sympathetic and enthusiastic scholar of all things Indonesian, but she is fair-minded and does not hold back on presenting the dark side of some phases of Indonesian history.
Art & Photography
Book Info
