Revolusi

Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World

Description of the book

Brought to you by Penguin.

**Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2024**

A 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.

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2024*

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.

'Astounding . . . history at its best' Yuval Noah Harari

'Utterly compelling . . . masterful' Financial Times *Summer Reads 2024*

'Superb' Guardian

'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