Revolusi

Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize A true masterpiece of narrative history showing Indonesia's epic revolution to be the great turning point of the 20th century

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

On a sunny morning in August 1945, a handful of tired people raised a homemade cotton flag and announced the birth of a new nation- Indonesia. For three and a half centuries, its people had been subject to Dutch colonial rule. It would take another four years of guerrilla warfare and resistance - the 'Revolusi' - to finally win their freedom, blazing a trail that would reshape the world.

Drawing on hundreds of interviews and eye-witness testimonies, David Van Reybrouck's superbly woven narrative is alive with human detail at every turn, showing Indonesia's struggle for independence to be one of the defining dramas of the twentieth century.