In this edition, Merle Ricklefs poses the question of how diverse but related linguistic and ethnic communities came to form the unitary Republic of Indonesia, and sheds important light on the crises and challenges facing this vast nation.

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.

A book of surpassing importance that should be required reading for leaders and policymakers throughout the world For thirty years Ben Kiernan has been deeply involved in the study of genocide and crimes against humanity. He has played a key role in unearthing confidential documentation of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. His writings have transformed our understanding not only of twentieth-century Cambodia but also of the historical phenomenon of genocide. This new book—the first global history of genocide and extermination from ancient times—is among his most important achievements. Kiernan examines outbreaks of mass violence from the classical era to the present, focusing on worldwide colonial exterminations and twentieth-century case studies including the Armenian genocide, the Nazi Holocaust, Stalin’s mass murders, and the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides. He identifies connections, patterns, and features that in nearly every case gave early warning of the catastrophe to come: racism or religious prejudice, territorial expansionism, and cults of antiquity and agrarianism. The ideologies that have motivated perpetrators of mass killings in the past persist in our new century, says Kiernan. He urges that we heed the rich historical evidence with its telltale signs for predicting and preventing future genocides.

Indonesia comprises more than 17,000 islands stretching on either side of the equator for nearly 4,000 miles and hundreds of ethnic groups with almost 300 languages spoken. This book reveals the remarkable social, religious, and geographical differences that exist from island to island. Because of such variety, Indonesia defies simple categorizations. Europeans have produced most of the written histories of this region, although Indonesians have contributed much. Culture and Customs of Indonesia reveals something of local people's ideas of their identities and pasts as well. Indonesian cultures covered include those of forest-dwelling hunters, rice growers, fisherfolk, village artisans, urban office and factory workers, intellectuals, artists, wealthy industrialists, street vendors, and homeless people. Readers will learn about the amazing range of belief systems, material culture, and arts that enliven Indonesia. Forshee describes the majestic temples, complex poetry and literature, lavish theatrical performances, and splendid visual arts and more that have distinguished Indonesia for centuries and continue into the present. Indonesians are shown to be constantly reinterpreting and refining their cultures in the modern world.

This pioneering volume traces the history of the region which became Indonesia, from early times to the present day, in over three hundred specially drawn full-colour maps with detailed accompanying text. In doing so, the Atlas brings fresh life to the fascinating and tangled history of this immense archipelago. Beginning with the geographical and ecological forces which have shaped the physical form of the archipelago, the Historical Atlas of Indonesia goes on to chart early human migration and the changing distribution of ethnic groups. It traces the kaleidoscopic pattern of states in early Indonesia and their gradual incorporation into the Netherlands Indies and eventually into the Republic of Indonesia.

Wives, Slaves, and Concubines argues that Dutch colonial practices and law created a new set of social and economic divisions in Batavia-Jakarta, modern-day Indonesia, to deal with difficult realities in Southeast Asia. Jones uses compelling stories from ordinary Asian women to explore the profound structural changes occurring at the end of the early colonial period—changes that helped birth the modern world order. Based on previously untapped criminal proceedings and testimonies by women who appeared before the Dutch East India Company's Court of Alderman, this fascinating study details the ways in which demographic and economic realities transformed the social and legal landscape of eighteenth-century Batavia-Jakarta. Southeast Asian women played an inordinately important role in the functioning of the early modern Asia Trade and in the short- and long-term operations of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Southeast Asia was a place where most individuals operated within an intricate web of multiple, fluid, situational, and reciprocal social relationships ranging from dependence to bondedness to slavery. The eighteenth century represents an important turning point: the relatively open and autonomous Asia Trade that prompted Columbus to set sail had begun to give way to an age of high imperialism and European economic hegemony. How did these changes affect life for ordinary women in early modern Dutch Asia, and how did the transformations wrought by Dutch colonialism alter their lives? The VOC created a legal division that favored members of mixed VOC families, those in which Asian women married men employed by the VOC. Thus, employment—not race—became the path to legal preference, a factor that disadvantaged the rest of the Asian women. In short, colonialism created a new underclass in Asia, one that had a particularly female cast. By the latter half of the eighteenth century, an increasingly operational dichotomy of slave and free supplanted an otherwise fluid system of reciprocal bondedness. The inherent divisions of this new system engendered social friction, especially as the emergent early modern economic order demanded new, tractable forms of labor. Dutch domestic law gave power to female elites in Dutch Asia, but it left the majority of women vulnerable to the more privileged on both sides of this legal divide. Slaves fled and violence erupted when traditional expectations of social mobility collided with new demands from the masters and the state.

Drawing on previously unavailable archival material, this book argues that Indonesian nationalism rested on Islamic ecumenism heightened by colonial rule and the pilgrimage. The award winning author Laffan contrasts the latter experience with life in Cairo, where some Southeast Asians were drawn to both reformism and nationalism. After demonstrating the close linkage between Cairene ideology and Indonesian nationalism, Laffan shows how developments in the Middle East continued to play a role in shaping Islamic politics in colonial Indonesia.

Focus: Gamelan Music of Indonesia is an introduction to the familiar music from Southeast Asia's largest country - both as sound and cultural phenomenon. An archipelago of over 17,000 islands, Indonesia is a melting pot of Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Portuguese, Dutch, and British influences. Despite this diversity, it has forged a national culture, one in which music plays a significant role. Gamelan music, in particular, teaches us much about Indonesian values and modern-day life. Focus: Gamelan Music of Indonesia provides an introduction to present-day Javanese, Balinese, Cirebonese, and Sundanese gamelan music through ethnic, social, cultural, and global perspectives. Part One, Music and Southeast Asian History ̧ provides introductory materials for the study of Southeast Asian music. Part Two, Gamelan Music in Java and Bali, moves to a more focused overview of Gamelan music in Indonesia. Part Three, Focusing In, takes an in-depth look at Sundanese gamelan traditions, as well modern developments in Sundanese music and dance. The accompanying downloadable resources offer vivid examples of traditional Indonesian gamelan music.