Revolusi

Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World

By: David Van Reybrouck

Narrated by: Neil Gardner

Length: 22 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

In August 1945, a handful of people raised a homemade cotton flag and announced the birth of a new nation. With the fourth largest population in the world, inhabiting islands that span an eighth of the globe, Indonesia became the first country to rid itself of colonial rule after WWII.

Renowned scholar David Van Reybrouck captures a period of tumult and chaos to tell the story of Indonesia's momentous revolution, known as the "Revolusi." Encompassing several hundred years of history, he details the formation of the Dutch East Indies, the Japanese invasion that followed, and the young rebels who engaged in armed resistance once the occupation ended. British and Dutch troops were sent to restore order and keep peace, but instead ignited the first modern war of decolonization. America, too, became embroiled with the Indonesians' fierce struggle for freedom. That struggle inspired independence movements in Asia, Africa, and the Arab world, especially in the wake of Indonesia's monumental 1955 Bandung Conference, the first global conference without the West. The whole world had become involved in Revolusi, and the whole world was changed by it.

A landmark history, Revolusi cements Indonesia's struggle for independence as one of the defining dramas of the twentieth century and entirely reframes our understanding of post-colonialism.

©2020 David Van Reybrouck; Translation copyright 2024 by David Colmer and David McKay (P)2024 Tantor