The hidden story of the wanton slaughter — in Indonesia, Latin
America, and around the world — backed by the United States.
In 1965, the U.S.
government helped the Indonesian military kill approximately one
million innocent civilians. This was one of the most important
turning points of the twentieth century, eliminating the largest
communist party outside China and the Soviet Union and inspiring
copycat terror programs in faraway countries like Brazil and Chile.
But these events remain widely overlooked, precisely because the
CIA’s secret interventions were so successful.
In this bold and
comprehensive new history, Vincent Bevins builds on his incisive
reporting for the Washington Post, using recently declassified
documents, archival research and eye-witness testimony collected
across twelve countries to reveal a shocking legacy that spans the
globe. For decades, it’s been believed that parts of the developing
world passed peacefully into the U.S.-led capitalist system. The
Jakarta Method demonstrates that the brutal extermination of
unarmed leftists was a fundamental part of Washington’s final
triumph in the Cold War.