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A review by bradenkwebb
The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World by Vincent Bevins
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
I swear my taste in books is more discerning than my average ratings make it seem—I’ve just gotten good at judging the bad ones from the cover:)
This book is heavy, and so important. It’s about a lot of things—anti-communism, many U.S.-backed “Ku De Ta”s, and the triumph of neocolonial crony capitalism over liberal democracy through systematic violence. It was frankly inspiring to learn of the Bandung Conference for the first time, and heartbreaking to think of what most of the southern hemisphere would be like today if institutions like fruit companies and the CIA didn’t exist.
Bevins mostly wrote chronologically, which means somewhat frequent jumping around between the lives of different people around the globe as geopolitical events evolve. The book is very accessible, well-written, and at no point did he ever push a narrative of white guilt or anti-American sentiment. Any such feelings are likely a natural consequence of expository journalism.
Q: “How did we win the cold war?”
A: “You killed us.”
This book is heavy, and so important. It’s about a lot of things—anti-communism, many U.S.-backed “Ku De Ta”s, and the triumph of neocolonial crony capitalism over liberal democracy through systematic violence. It was frankly inspiring to learn of the Bandung Conference for the first time, and heartbreaking to think of what most of the southern hemisphere would be like today if institutions like fruit companies and the CIA didn’t exist.
Bevins mostly wrote chronologically, which means somewhat frequent jumping around between the lives of different people around the globe as geopolitical events evolve. The book is very accessible, well-written, and at no point did he ever push a narrative of white guilt or anti-American sentiment. Any such feelings are likely a natural consequence of expository journalism.
Q: “How did we win the cold war?”
A: “You killed us.”