A review by aoyenhi
The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World by Vincent Bevins

5.0

ook me so long to get through because it was so brutal. but necessary reading. 

the final chapter was extremely masterfully written--summarizing the atrocities puppeteered the US government on indonesian politics + people while also describing how deeply it affected the politics of other countries surrounding them, especially socialist countries like viet nam and china. i judged bevins too quickly on the first half of this book for being too defeatist, i was wrong. his final analysis and summaries + the amount of respect he shows to everyone interviewed for this book is what truly sets this apart. 

also, the US is completely irredeemable. this book is living proof of that. i wish that the socialists of the 60s could have been allowed to build the beautiful world free of colonialism and imperialism that they wanted to so deeply