Revolusi

Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World

De: David Van Reybrouck, David Colmer - translator, David McKay

Narrado por: Neil Gardner

Brought to you by Penguin.

**Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2024**

A story of staggering scope and drama, Revolusi is the masterful and definitive account of the epic revolution that sparked the decolonisation of the modern world.

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2024*

On a sunny Friday morning in August 1945, a handful of tired people raised a homemade cotton flag and on behalf of 68 million compatriots announced the birth of a new nation: Indonesia.

Four million civilians had died during the Japanese wartime occupation that ousted its Dutch colonial regime. Another 200,000 people would lose their lives in the astonishingly brutal conflict that ensued - as the Dutch used savage violence to reassert their control, and as Britain and America became embroiled in pacifying Indonesia's guerrilla war of resistance: the 'Revolusi'. It was not until December 1949 that the newly created United Nations finally brought the conflict an end - and with it, 350 years of colonial rule - setting a precedent that would reshape the world.

Drawing on hundreds of interviews and eye-witness testimonies, David Van Reybrouck turns this vast and complex story into an utterly gripping narrative that is alive with human detail at every turn. A landmark publication, Revolusi shows Indonesia's struggle for independence to be one of the defining dramas of the twentieth century.

'Astounding . . . history at its best' Yuval Noah Harari

'Utterly compelling . . . masterful' Financial Times *Summer Reads 2024*

'Superb' Guardian

'A magnificent fusion of oral history, sparkling analysis, and historical wisdom. Revolusi has it all: a masterpiece' SEBASTIAN MALLABY

'One of the most unlikely and astonishing sagas ... a towering achievement' THOMAS MEANEY

'A magisterial but gripping account of events of urgent importance to us now' JASON BURKE

'At once vast and intimate, a history in colour' LAKSMI PAMUNTJAK

'A masterly display of the historian’s craft' J M COETZEE

'A wonderful and important book' PETER FRANKOPAN

©2024 David Van Reybrouck (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Extraordinary

Simply one of the best audiobooks I have ever listened to. Original in its structure, fascinating content and covering an unjustly neglected topic.

Good book poor narration

Great book overall, very well written.
However the narrator felt the need to mimic (poorly) the voice of every interviewee in the book. It was unecessary, not to say cringe, and all the more damaging to the overall narration as interviews were supposed to be the central elements of the book.
My greatest grievance is the mispronounciation of indonesian / dutch words and names. If the narrator could have spent the same effort looking into pronounciations as he did imitating the voice of elderly people, I would not have been complaining half as much.