NAMEDONEOFTHEBESTBOOKSOF2020BYNPR,THEFINANCIALTIMES,ANDGQThehiddenstoryofthewantonslaughter--inIndonesia,LatinAmerica,andaroundtheworld--backedbytheUnitedStates.In1965,theU.S.governmenthelpedtheIndonesianmilitarykillapproximatelyonemillioninnocentcivilians.Thiswasoneofthemostimportantturningpointsofthetwentiethcentury,eliminatingthelargestcommunistpartyoutsideChinaandtheSovietUnionandinspiringcopycatterrorprogramsinfarawaycountrieslikeBrazilandChile.Buttheseeventsremainwidelyoverlooked,preciselybecausetheCIA’ssecretinterventionsweresosuccessful.Inthisboldandcomprehensivenewhistory,VincentBevinsbuildsonhisincisivereportingfortheWashingtonPost,usingrecentlydeclassifieddocuments,archivalresearchandeye-witnesstestimonycollectedacrosstwelvecountriestorevealashockinglegacythatspanstheglobe.Fordecades,it’sbeenbelievedthatpartsofthedevelopingworldpassedpeacefullyintotheU.S.-ledcapitalistsystem.TheJakartaMethoddemonstratesthatthebrutalexterminationofunarmedleftistswasafundamentalpartofWashington’sfinaltriumphintheColdWar.
