KRAKATAU: THE DESTRUCTION AND REASSEMBLY OF AN ISLAND ECOSYSTEM
By Ian Thornton
On August 27, 1883, the island of Krakatau near Java erupted with a force nearly ten thousand times that of the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, obliterating all plant and animal life. This book is a comprehensive account of the reassembly of a tropical forest ecosystem on Krakatau over the past century. 'Informative as it is, the book has all the intrigue and suspense of a good whodunit' (Times Higher Education Supplement).
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996, 368pp, ISBN 0674505689, hbk US$39.95.


KOMODO, THE LIVING DRAGON
By Richard Lutz, Marie Lutz, Dick Lutz
Updates a 1991 original on the Komodo dragon of eastern Indonesia, including its first successful US breeding and travel details to Komodo island. Blends scientific insights with travelogue. The only book written for adults on the Komodo dragon.
Dimi Press, 1996 (2d ed), ISBN 0931625270. Avail: Amazon Books, pbk US$13.56.


THE POLITICS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN INDONESIA
Edited by Ian Chalmers & Vedi Hadiz
Despite increased Western interest in Indonesian economic growth, domestic interpretations remain largely unknown outside Indonesia and have rarely been available in English. Translating key speeches and articles from the political debates surrounding Indonesian economic development, the authors present and analyse trends in development thinking by leading Indonesian figures over the last thirty years.
London: Routledge, 1997, 304pp, ISBN 0-415-14502-3, hbk US$69.95, Stg 50.


BUILDING A MODERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM: THE INDONESIAN EXPERIENCE
By David Cole & Betty Slade
A pre-crash overview of the Indonesian banking system, its capital market, insurance industry, finance companies, and the political economy of financial reform.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996, 379 pp, ISBN 0521570921.


THE BUSINESS OF JAPANESE FOREIGN AID
Edited by Marie Soderberg
Five case studies of Japanese official development aid: what type, for whom, and why? The five include one each in Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, and two in China.
London/ New York: Routledge, 1996, 299pp, hbk ISBN 0415138787.


IMAGINING INDONESIA: CULTURAL POLITICS AND POLITICAL CULTURE
Edited by Jim Schiller & Barbara Martin-Schiller
Papers presented at an intimate conference in Adelaide. Among them are Bill Frederick on Armijn Pane, Anton Lucas on land disputes, Amrih Widodo on the Samin Movement, Barbara Hatley on the feminine in literature, Bill Liddle on political cultural change, David Bourchier on the philosophical basis of the state, and Fachry Ali on state and non-state cultures.
Athens, Ohio: Ohio University, 1998, 351 pp, ISBN 089680190X, US$30.


SHARED HOPES, SEPARATE FEARS: 50 YEARS OF US-INDONESIAN RELATIONS
By Paul F. Gardner
This book traces the often tumultuous history of US-Indonesian relations as experienced by those who witnessed and shaped it. Gardner, himself a firsthand observer, draws on interviews, personal papers, and recently declassified documents to provide an intimate view of the aspirations, insights, and acts of courage that built the US-Indonesian relationship; the fears, intrigue, and blunders that threatened it; and the complex issues the two nations face today.
Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1997, 318pp, ISBN 0813331900, pbk 0813331919.


RIDING THE DUTCH TIGER: THE DUTCH EAST INDIES COMPANY AND THE NORTHEAST COAST OF JAVA, 1680-1743
By Luc Nagtegaal
Explores how a handful of Europeans came to dominate a huge Asian population. The key lay in a symbiotic relationship between colonial powerholders and indigenous rulers. Javanese princes used Dutch military might to their own ends, and in return smoothed the way for the Dutch East India Company in its economic exploitation of the country. This same period was crucial in shaping the economic basis for the success of the 19th century Cultivation System. A new synthesis of the political, economic, and social history of Java.
Leiden: KITLV, 1996, 250pp, ISBN 90 6718 103 X, NLG 50.00, AU$44.95.


BETWEEN PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE
By David Gillies
Subtitled 'Human rights in North-South relations', this book examines
the human rights diplomacy of Canada, the Netherlands, and Norway, all
prosperous industrial democracies with an international reputation for protesting human rights abuses. Even these countries are seldom prepared to sacrifice short-run interests to protest gross abuses beyond their borders. Based on case studies of five Third World countries - Sri Lanka, the Philippines, China, Indonesia, and Surinam.
McGill-Queen University, 1996, 360pp, cloth ISBN 0-7735-1413-9 US$55.00, pbk ISBN 0-7735-1414-7, US$22.95.



TWO INDONESIAN BOOKS
Amuk Banjarmasin
By Hairus Salim & Andi Achdian
By far the worst violence during 1997's election campaign occurred in Banjarmasin, Kalimantan, on 23 May. Hundreds died or disappeared during a riot sparked when Golkar campaigners disturbed a Friday congregation at prayer. This investigative book brings together eyewitness accounts of this little known episode.
Jakarta: YLBHI, Dec 1997, 124 pp, Rp 8,000 + postage. Avail. YLBHI, Jl Diponegoro 74, Jakarta Pusat 10320, Indonesia.
Derita paksa perempuan di Yogyakarta
By Budi Hartono & Dadang Juliantara
The story of hundreds of Indonesian 'comfort women' (jugun ianfu) forced into prostitution by Japanese soldiers during their occupation of this country in 1942-45. The women are still looking for recognition of the trauma they suffered.
Jakarta: Sinar Harapan, Nov 1997, 230pp. Avail. Asia in Australia Pty Ltd, PO Box 10, O'Connor ACT 2601, Australia, tel 02-6257 2969, fax 02-6257 2162, AU$15.


HIDDEN HORRORS: JAPANESE WAR CRIMES IN WORLD WAR II
By Yuki Tanaka, Toshiyuki Tanaka, Yukiko Tanaka
Documents for the first time previously hidden Japanese atrocities in World War II, including cannibalism, the slaughter and starvation of prisoners of war in Indonesia, the rape, enforced prostitution and murder of noncombatants, and biological warfare experiments throughout the Pacific theatre. Shocking annals that bear gruesome witness to the darker realities of what historian John W. Dower (who contributed a thoughtful foreword to the American edition) called a war without mercy.
Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1998, 296pp, ISBN 0813327180, pbk, US$19.95.