The History of Indonesia

by Steven Drakeley

Culturally and politically, Indonesia is one of the more complex countries in the world, with 336 ethnic groups speaking 583 languages and dialects. It is only recently that these people have been contained within one political framework. Throughout most of history, Indonesia's inhabitants were divided politically in many different ways as a bewildering array of kingdoms and empires rose and fell within the region. Since independence in 1945, one of the challenges Indonesia faces is constructing a unified national identity. Through six chapters, Drakeley discusses Indonesian history beginning with settlement and social development in 5,000 BCE, through the Colonial Era, the Independence Movement, the Sukarno Era, and the Soeharto Era, to the 2004 elections.

Ideal for students and general readers, the History of Indonesia is part of Greenwood's Histories of Modern Nations series. With over thirty nation's histories in print, these books provide readers with a concise, up-to-date history of countries throughout the world. Reference features include a biographical section highlighting famous figures in Indonesian history, a timeline of important historical events, a glossary of terms, and a bibliographical essay with suggestions for further reading.

232 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Nirmal · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is complete nonsense. Some chapters are so vague that it’s impossible to determine what the author is trying to convey. Other chapters are overloaded with Wikipedia styled statistics that add little value such as detailed election vote counts that most readers won’t care about. The book is also badly imbalanced: it devotes excessive space to the colonial period while offering only scant, speculative coverage of earlier eras. I ended up skimming and skipping most of it.

[Andrew Daniels · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a great book
not recommended
not good content

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall it was good. I was able to get a general overview of Indonesian history and some contemporary issues. Unfortunately the author took the firehouse approach to giving information, which was overwhelming at times. He used a lot of acronyms, but usually only referenced their full name a few times, and then usually in their original Dutch or Indonesian, which didn't really help me out. On top of that, there was only one map of Indonesia in the book, and it wasn't that detailed, so it was hard to figure things out geographically.