First published 2005
In 1998, Jakarta erupts in riots as the Suharto regime collapses. Journalist Richard Lloyd Parry is there, bearing witness to the chaos. As the city burns, he uncovers a dark history of state-sanctioned violence dating back decades. Tracing the roots of this madness, Parry travels to remote islands, interviewing survivors of massacres and military coups. With each encounter, a portrait of a nation in turmoil emerges – one where the boundaries between truth and fiction have blurred. Amidst the carnage, Parry seeks to understand how a culture of fear and repression took hold, and the lasting scars it has left on the Indonesian people.
Genres: history, 20th-century, non-fiction, 21st-century, journalism
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: East Timor, Indonesia
Period: 1966-1998, 1998-
336 pages · Kindle Edition · Vintage Digital
Content warnings: violence