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The politics of post-Suharto Indonesia
Adam Schwarz & Jonathan Paris (eds)
International experts on Indonesia focus on the economy, religion and ethnicity, civil society, and the military, with a concluding chapter on the IMF and US policy toward Indonesia. A rich, forward-looking volume that provides a first glimpse into the future of Indonesia in the post-Suharto era.
Washington: The Brookings Institution Press, 1999, 150pp, pbk ISBN 0-87609-247-4, rrp US$17.95 or AU$32.95, web www.brook.edu/press/books/saleinfo.htm, tel 1-800-275-1447, fax 202-797-6004
Our vanishing relative - The status of wild orang-utans at the close of the 20th century
H D Rijksen & E Meijaard
The orangutan faces extinction because it is dependent on a rain-forest habitat that is rapidly being demolished due to human greed, and a growing human population. This is the first comprehensive study of the ape's distribution and status based on a wealth of first-hand field data, and a frank, disturbing account of a mixture of good intentions, ignorance and greed, spelling doom for our Asian relatives. Nevertheless a realistic plan to save the ape, and with it thousands of unique wild animals and plants, does exist.
Tropenbos Foundation, 1999, 486pp, hbk ISBN 0-7923-5754-X, rrp US$195, web www.wkap.nl or email orderdept@wkap.nl. Indon version avail soon (enq: tropenbos@iac.agro.nl)
Orangutan odyssey
Birute M F Galdikas & Nancy Briggs
For more than 25 years, renowned primatologist Birute Galdikas has lived among the orangutans of Borneo. With this pictorial essay, Galdikas brings to life her work with these shy and endangered red apes. Nancy Briggs has long worked with Galdikas in both Los Angeles and Borneo. Photographs by Karl Ammann, an award-winning wildlife photographer based in Kenya. Introduction by Jane Goodall.
NY: Abrams, 1999, 144pp, hbk ISBN 0810936941, rrp US$39.95
The sacred monkeys of Bali
Bruce P Wheatley
Explains how the Balinese integrate the sacred long-tailed macaques into their worldview. This is the first time a primatologist has incorporated the human element into research. Analyses long-tailed macaque behaviour and then describes corresponding alterations in human behaviour caused by the presence of the monkeys. This juxtaposition of human culture and monkey culture demonstrates that habitats where humans live together with monkeys actually may be more harmonious than they are disruptive.
Waveland Press, 1999, 189pp, pbk ISBN 1577660595, rrp US$11.95
Timor Loro Sae - 500 years
Geoffrey C Gunn
The first book-length history of Timor in the English language, using European language sources and archival records. From the 1500s to the mid-18th century, the Portuguese and Dutch were content merely to collect tribute from the Timorese. But when the Portuguese established a successful coffee plantation system in the 1860s, they came under severe challenge. Examines various great rebellions, the role of culture and religion, and the reignition of the Timorese 'funu' (warfare) by the Indonesian genocidal occupation.
Macau: Livros do Oriente, 1999, ISBN 972-9418-69-1, rrp US$24, www.loriente.com
Is oil thicker than blood?
George J AditjondroOutlines Timor's oil history, its underlying role in the conflict and the US oil interests in this conflict. Describes the major players in the Timor Sea oil and gas race, their discoveries, and the Timor Sea energy mega-projects which are in the pipeline. What are the implications for an independent East Timor nation-state? Includes recommendations for action.
Nova Science, 1999, hbk ISBN 1560725788, rrp US$34, Indon version avail soon from Solidamor
Copper, tin, and fire - Gongsmithing in Java
Sam Quigley
Video showing the amazing transformation of a small block of bronze into a beautifully polished small gong. Made in the Surakarta workshop of gamelan maker Tentrem Sarwanto, who is also interviewed on the tape. A treat for those who know Pak Tentrem and his wonderful instruments, and a revelation for those interested in instrument building and gong-making in particular.
American Gamelan Institute (AGI), Box 1052, Lebanon, NH 03766, USA, tel/fax 603 448 8837, web www.gamelan.org, mention this message for a special price of US$25, incl p/h (regular price US$35 + p/h)
The domestication of desire - Women, wealth, and modernity in Java
Suzanne April Brenner
Laweyan is a once-thriving production centre of batik textiles. It had embraced modernity under Dutch colonial rule, only to fend off the modernising forces of the Indonesian state during the late twentieth century. Highlights the unique power of women in the marketplace and the home - two domains closely linked. Her analysis centres on the importance of gender to processes of social transformation. In Laweyan, the base of economic and social power has shifted from families, in which women were the main producers of wealth and cultural value, to the Indonesian state, which has worked to reorient families toward national political agendas.
Princeton Univ Press, 1998, 336pp, pbk ISBN 0691016925, rrp AU$36.95
Nathaniel's nutmeg
Giles Milton
Subtitled 'The true and incredible adventures of the spice trader who changed the course of history'. The tiny island of Run is an insignificant speck in the middle of the Indonesian archipelago. Yet 370 years ago Run's harvest of nutmeg turned it into the most lucrative of the Spice Islands, precipitating a battle between the all-powerful Dutch East India Company and the British crown. The outcome was one of the most spectacular deals in history: Britain ceded Run to Holland but in return was given Manhattan. The deal was due, in part, to the persistence of one man, Nathaniel Courthope and his small band of adventurers. 'A gripping tale of jingoistic pride, atrocious cruelty, avarice and double-dealing. His research is impeccable and his narrative reads in part like a modern-day Robert Louis Stevenson novel.' (The Sunday Times)
Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1999, 400pp, hbk ISBN 0374219362, rrp US$24
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