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A Brief History of Indonesia

Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis: The Incredible Story of Southeast Asia's Largest Nation

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A Brief History of Indonesia

By: Tim Hannigan
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
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About this listen

Indonesia is by far the largest nation in Southeast Asia and has the fourth-largest population in the world after the United States. Indonesian history and culture are especially relevant today as the island nation is an emerging power in the region with a dynamic new leader. It is a land of incredible diversity and unending paradoxes that has a long and rich history stretching back a thousand years and more. 

Indonesia is the fabled "Spice Islands" of every school child's dreams - one of the most colorful and fascinating countries in history. These are the islands that Europeans set out on countless voyages of discovery to find and later fought bitterly over in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. This was the land that Christopher Columbus sought, and Magellan actually reached and explored. One tiny Indonesian island was even exchanged for the island of Manhattan in 1667! 

This fascinating history book tells the story of Indonesia as a narrative of kings, traders, missionaries, soldiers, and revolutionaries, featuring stormy sea crossings, fiery volcanoes, and the occasional tiger.

©2015 Tim Hannigan (P)2019 Tantor Asia Colonialism & Post-Colonialism Expeditions & Discoveries Indonesia Politics & Government Southeast Asia World South East Asia
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I have always been fascinated by Indonesia and its rich history. seeing a book on the history of such a diverse
and wonderful country is perfect for me. The narrator was very easy to listen to, made the book all the better. 100% read this if your interested in Indonesia at all.

My favourite history book ever

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Good narration of a wide introduction to Indonesian history. One criticism it seemed to gloss over Japanese occupation and the millions of Indonesians who lost their lives during it. Other than that a good listen.

Decent introduction to Indonesian history

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I don’t get how a listener was surprised that this is a ‘history’ book. It is clearly written so.

I’m an Indonesian and I think this book is marvelous.
Mr. Hannigan told the story from the kingdoms and dynasties existed. When Ibn Battuta arrived in Sumatra. How the spice trade happened to the Dutch arrivals and then the Japanese.
How Indonesia progress from one president to another and to this day under the leadership of JokoWi.
It’s compact, thorough, and yet quite entertaining.

And Mr. Perkins narration is great too. His pronunciation of the weird words and names are spot on.

I think these two should collaborate again for Mr. Hannigan’s other books.

Totally recommend this book.

This book is wonderful

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I understand it is a brief history, but I often had to Google specific instances as the broader context was missing - eg could have reminded readers that Napoleon-occupied Netherlands meant French and then British took over Indonesia. On the other hand, the author gets lost on pointless part, such as the life story of random journalists or the alternate spellings of multiple kings I couldn't care less about. It had the potential to be a great book, but implementation was quite poor.

Could have been better

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The author, very neatly, crams a huge amount of history into this very well written book. In places it reads like a thriller where you need to know 'what happened next'.

Exceeded My Expectations

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