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**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.
‘Astounding . . . history at its best’ Yuval Noah Harari
‘Utterly compelling . . . astonishing’ Financial Times
‘Superb’ Guardian
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 to 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.
‘A magnificent fusion of oral history, sparkling analysis, and historical wisdom. Revolusi has it all: a masterpiece’ Sebastain Mallaby
‘A magisterial and gripping account of events of urgent importance to us now’ Jason Burke
‘A wonderful book’ Peter Frankopan
‘Masterly’ J M Coetzee
**Shortlisted for the Cundill Prize**
