The Jakarta Method

Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World

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By Vincent Bevins

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$19.99

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$25.99 CAD

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR, THE FINANCIAL TIMES, AND GQ

“A radical new history of the United States abroad” (Wall Street Journal) which uncovers U.S. complicity in the mass-killings of left-wing activists in Indonesia, Latin America and around the world

In 1965, the U.S. government helped the Indonesian military kill approximately one million innocent civilians. This was one of the most important turning points of the twentieth 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 twelve 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 U.S.-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.

  • “A radical new history of the United States abroad.”
    Wall Street Journal
  • "Excellent...anchors itself in a history most Americans never learned or would rather forget."
    Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post
  • "The Jakarta Method is a must-read to better understand how the U.S. intelligence apparatus became what it is today, and how it's ravaged so many other countries along the way."
    GQ

On Sale
Apr 27, 2021
Page Count
352 pages
Publisher
PublicAffairs
ISBN-13
9781541724006

Vincent Bevins

About the Author

Vincent Bevins is an award-winning journalist and correspondent. He covered Southeast Asia for the Washington Post, reporting from across the entire region and paying special attention to the legacy of the 1965 massacre in Indonesia. He previously served as the Brazil correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, also covering nearby parts of South America, and before that he worked for the Financial Times in London.
 
Among the other publications he has written for are the New York Times,The Atlantic, The Economist, the Guardian, Foreign Policy, the New York Review of BooksThe New Republic, and more. Vincent was born and raised in California and spent the last few years living in Jakarta.

Learn more about this author