SOLD Travels in Indonesia

 

SOLD

Rare book. Very good condition. PB. 280pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Norman Lewis was eighty-three years old when in 1991 he embarked on a series of three arduous journeys into the most contentious corners of Indonesia: into the extreme western edge of Sumatra, into East Timor and Irian Jaya. 

He never drops his guard, reporting only on what he can observe, and using his well-honed tools of irony, humour and restraint to assess the power of the ruling Javanese generals who for better or worse took over the 300-year old dominion of the exploitative Dutch colonial regime. 

An Empire of the East is the magnificent swan-song of Britain's greatest travel writer.

Graham Greene called Lewis "one of the best"; Pico Iyer said he's "one of the world's last unguarded secrets"; and Anthony Burgess said "his prose is almost edible." 

And yeah, he's pretty good. 

Lewis visits deep into the leafy and political jungles of Sumatra and East Timor, describing the lurking perils of Indonesian restaurants that cook their food once a week and political land mines as well. 

"Empire" is a scholarly and well-written treatment of Indonesia.