The Jakarta Method

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 US government helped the Indonesian military kill approximately one million innocent civilians-eliminating the largest Communist Party outside China and the Soviet Union and inspiring other copycat terror programs.

In this bold and comprehensive new history, Vincent Bevins draws from recently declassified documents, archival research, and eyewitness testimony to reveal a shocking legacy that spans the globe. For decades, it’s been believed that 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.

Author Biography

Vincent Bevins is an award-winning journalist. He covered Southeast Asia for the Washington Post after serving as the Brazil correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. Bevins previously worked for the Financial Times and now contributes to outlets like the New York Times Magazine and the London Review of Books. He is also the author of If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution.