The Jakarta Method
Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World
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The Jakarta Method
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Narrated by:
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Tim Paige
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By:
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Vincent Bevins
About this listen
Named One of the Best Books of 2020 by NPR, The Financial Times, and GQ
The hidden story of the wanton slaughter - in Indonesia, Latin America, and around the world - backed by the United States.
In 1965, the US government helped the Indonesian military kill approximately one million innocent civilians. This was one of the most important turning points of the 20th century, eliminating the largest communist party outside China and the Soviet Union and inspiring copycat terror programs in faraway countries like Brazil and Chile. But these events remain widely overlooked, precisely because the CIA's secret interventions were so successful.
In this bold and comprehensive new history, Vincent Bevins builds on his incisive reporting for the Washington Post, using recently declassified documents, archival research, and eye-witness testimony collected across 12 countries to reveal a shocking legacy that spans the globe. For decades, it's been believed that parts of the developing world passed peacefully into the US-led capitalist system. The Jakarta Method demonstrates that the brutal extermination of unarmed leftists was a fundamental part of Washington's final triumph in the Cold War.
©2020 Vincent Bevins (P)2020 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"This fascinating book is a meticulous and shocking analysis of a little-known and horrifically bloody battle of the Cold War, but it is also something more. It places the Indonesia massacre of 1965 in its global context, showing how the United States both supported it and used it as a model for repression in other countries." (Stephen Kinzer, author of Overthrow, All the Shah's Men, Poisoner in Chief)
"In The Jakarta Method, Vincent Bevins argues persuasively that during the Cold War, the U.S. approved of mass murder campaigns to roll back communism in the Third World. This is a provocative, necessary book, an essential guide to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of our imperfect world. Highly recommended." (Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker staff writer, author of Che Guevara and Inside the League)
"The Jakarta Method is a gripping, thoroughly original exploration into the global covert Cold War, the passions it provoked, and the corpses it left in its wake. A full tally of the body count of the transnational counterinsurgency Washington has been waging since the early 1960s is impossible. But Bevins' excellent book offers a different kind of reckoning, of moral costs and ongoing political consequences. 'Jakarta is coming' was spray-painted on the walls of Santiago Chile in 1972, just before that country's CIA-backed coup, a way for that nation's rich to let the poor know the fate that would befall them were they to continue to fight for a more just society. 'Jakarta' did come, leaving hundreds of thousands of dead throughout Latin America. And, in a way, it never left." (Greg Grandin, Yale University, author of Fordlandia and The End of the Myth)
What listeners say about The Jakarta Method
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Irish reader
- 15-11-24
Really interesting look at Cold War era for third world countries
This book surprised me in being not just about Indonesia but also many other so-called third world countries as they moved through the period of the Cold War.
It provides an interesting analysis as to why and how right wing military dictatorships sprouted up in so many places.
It’s a fascinating topic and I highly recommend this book to anybody interested.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Nicholas Butcher
- 28-07-20
great, eye opening book
Great eye opening book, with fantastic insights and research that must have been relatively hard to get and put together.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Joe Higgs
- 09-03-21
Mindblowing
This is simply the best book on the impact of US covert interventionism that I have even encountered. It is an emotional rollercoaster that pulls no punches and demonstrates clearly how a bunch of racist old white men led our planet down the path we are still on today. Wow.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Barry Pace
- 13-10-20
A remarkable book
A depressing and important read. A round-the-world journey of tragedy told through the eyes of those who experienced it first hand. This book brings a personal humanity to the tragedies of mass murder perpetrated by the US government that few other historical accounts manage to capture.
It delivers the humanity and tragedy of Patricio Guzmán's 'Nostalgia for the Light' and the historical incisiveness of Christopher Hitchens' 'The Trial of Henry Kissinger'. A remarkable book, and a must read for those interested in 20th Century history.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 24-07-20
Changed my whole perception of postwar history.
A really important story brilliantly researched and told. would strongly recommend, even if listening was hard at times.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 21-12-21
I knew it was bad but I didn’t knew it was THIS bad
Crazy, shocking details into my country’s history, makes me want to read further reference about the events. I wish the narrator was trained to pronounce Indonesian names correctly. I cringed every time I heard ‘Nasution’ pronounced as ‘nasuusyen’ and ‘Pancasila’ as ‘paenkasila’.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 22-04-21
A powerful listen
An essential, devastating account of US interventionism in the 20th century. The narrator does a great job too.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Sammy
- 05-09-21
Lessons will not be learned!
unfortunately a little monotone but dynamically detailed. take time to listen and absorb. will buy the hardcopy now as a point of reference.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Phillip Stephens
- 24-10-20
Facts, many people didn't know
This is a factual book that details how the US changed the 3rd world
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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- Abdurahiim Roberts
- 25-01-22
Outstanding!
I learnt a great deal from this book. Especially poignant for me as my wife is Indonesian.
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