A Brief History of Indonesia cover art

A Brief History of Indonesia

Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis: The Incredible Story of Southeast Asia's Largest Nation

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A Brief History of Indonesia

By: Tim Hannigan
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
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About this listen

Indonesia is by far the largest nation in Southeast Asia and has the fourth-largest population in the world after the United States. Indonesian history and culture are especially relevant today as the island nation is an emerging power in the region with a dynamic new leader. It is a land of incredible diversity and unending paradoxes that has a long and rich history stretching back a thousand years and more.

Indonesia is the fabled "Spice Islands" of every school child's dreams - one of the most colorful and fascinating countries in history. These are the islands that Europeans set out on countless voyages of discovery to find and later fought bitterly over in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. This was the land that Christopher Columbus sought, and Magellan actually reached and explored. One tiny Indonesian island was even exchanged for the island of Manhattan in 1667!

This fascinating history book tells the story of Indonesia as a narrative of kings, traders, missionaries, soldiers, and revolutionaries, featuring stormy sea crossings, fiery volcanoes, and the occasional tiger.

©2015 Tim Hannigan (P)2019 Tantor Asia Colonialism & Post-Colonialism Indonesia Politics & Government Southeast Asia World South East Asia

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All stars
Most relevant  
I don’t get how a listener was surprised that this is a ‘history’ book. It is clearly written so.

I’m an Indonesian and I think this book is marvelous.
Mr. Hannigan told the story from the kingdoms and dynasties existed. When Ibn Battuta arrived in Sumatra. How the spice trade happened to the Dutch arrivals and then the Japanese.
How Indonesia progress from one president to another and to this day under the leadership of JokoWi.
It’s compact, thorough, and yet quite entertaining.

And Mr. Perkins narration is great too. His pronunciation of the weird words and names are spot on.

I think these two should collaborate again for Mr. Hannigan’s other books.

Totally recommend this book.

This book is wonderful

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I have always been fascinated by Indonesia and its rich history. seeing a book on the history of such a diverse
and wonderful country is perfect for me. The narrator was very easy to listen to, made the book all the better. 100% read this if your interested in Indonesia at all.

My favourite history book ever

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The author, very neatly, crams a huge amount of history into this very well written book. In places it reads like a thriller where you need to know 'what happened next'.

Exceeded My Expectations

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Good narration of a wide introduction to Indonesian history. One criticism it seemed to gloss over Japanese occupation and the millions of Indonesians who lost their lives during it. Other than that a good listen.

Decent introduction to Indonesian history

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I understand it is a brief history, but I often had to Google specific instances as the broader context was missing - eg could have reminded readers that Napoleon-occupied Netherlands meant French and then British took over Indonesia. On the other hand, the author gets lost on pointless part, such as the life story of random journalists or the alternate spellings of multiple kings I couldn't care less about. It had the potential to be a great book, but implementation was quite poor.

Could have been better

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I was optimistic about this book after listening to the introduction - which was primarily a reflection on the multiplicity of cultures and languages bracketed by the concept of 'Indonesia', which contrasted favourably with a narrative history of Korea I recently tried to listen to, which immediately fell to listening all the significant Europeans who had visited Korea. For the first 3rd of this book, covering prehistory up to the Dutch Colonisation in the 17th century, this optimism was well founded, there is a nice combination of pseudo-novelistic anecdote and conventional narrative history here, and a well balanced combination of political and cultural historical reflections - major rulers become representatives of their respective cultures, which is a bit old fashioned, but is a good way to short-hand a very broad history like this one. However, through the Dutch and British colonial periods, I was dismayed to see that all of the focal point figures in the narrative were colonists, and Indonesian culture itself was always pushed to the sidelines of its own story. There are accounts of encounters between the Dutch colonial leaders and various regional courts, in which we get a snapshot of the court in the moment of the Dutch encounter, with no indication of its specific history or culture beyond how it pertained to this specific negotiation. There is a passing reference at one point to the resurgence of traditional dance in Bali in the 19th century, which leaves huge questions about what exactly these traditions are, where did they come from, and what function did they play in Balinese cultural identity. The naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace gets a large section of one c19th chapter, as his findings and experiences in Indonesia are significant in his research on evolution, but I do find that focusing on him at such length does feed the idea that Indonesia's primary historical significance lies in how it was engaged with by Europeans. I would like to give this book the benefit of the doubt, as 'Indonesia' is a construct which emerges from anticolonial movements, it makes sense that its history must engage with that of Colonisation, but the fact that the book seems to lean hugely on European sources, contains several passages explaining that Indonesian historiographical accounts of key colonial abuses were missing the point, and overshadows its brief account of the pivotal 1945 Battle of Surabaya with an elegiac reflection on the attachment of Dutch colonial families to their holdings in Indonesia, have made me more sceptical.

Solid pre-colonial history - falls into uncomfortable imperial apologia after the 18th century

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Too much focus on individuals and describes events in an isolated manner. Its very hard to follow and link together what he is talking about. I would have preferred if he glossed over characters and focused more on giving context of the overall scenario. If you want fact after fact in chronological order, this is the book for you! I'm halfway through the book and can barely even recall anything. Don't know why people rate it so high...

Boring just like History in School

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detailed but I'm trying to stay awake listening to it. It's a history book so... somewhat expected.

Dry

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