The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965–66

Relying on primary documents from governmental sources such as the CIA, the U.S. State Department, and foreign governments, as well as secondary sources on mass killings, UCLA professor Robinson (The Dark Side of Paradise: Political Violence in Bali) pulls back the curtain on a traumatic period in Indonesian history: the antileftist purges of the mid-1960s, during which half a million people were killed. After six Indonesian Army generals were assassinated on October 1, 1965, the army leadership blamed the Indonesian communist party, which had greatly increased in popularity and influence in the previous decade. What followed was a torrent of hellish violence, in many cases carried out by civilian militias associated with right-wing political parties, that was intended to destroy the communist party “down to the very roots” and unseat President Sukarno, the country’s first postcolonial leader. As Robinson explains, evidence indicates that the purges were orchestrated by the army and that the United States and other Western powers, extremely concerned about the high likelihood of yet another country embracing communism, countenanced the violence. This meticulous scholarly analysis of the country’s institutions comprehensively investigates the economic, religious, ethnic, and socioeconomic factors behind the arrests, rape, torture, and murder that were inflicted on communist true believers and innocents alike. Robinson’s authoritative scholarly work is an indispensable resource for specialists seeking a comprehensive overview of this little-studied period in Southeast Asian history. (Feb.)