The Jakarta Method

During the Cold War, the U.S. effort to contain communism resulted in several disgraceful and disastrous conflicts: Vietnam, Cuba, Korea. But other conflicts in Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, and other Latin American countries have arguably had a bigger hand in shaping today's world, yet the very nature of U.S. participation in them has been shrouded for decades. Until now. In 1965, nearly one million civilians were killed in Indonesia with U.S. assistance. The strategy went as follows: act early, play up the threat of a communist revolution, find the natural anti-communist elements in society, fund them, overthrow the sitting government, give the full backing of Washington to the new authoritarian state, and finally, turn a blind eye to the body count that mounts in its wake. It was a brutally efficient playbook that the CIA then emulated in Latin America in the decade that followed.In this bold and comprehensive new history, Washington Post reporter Vincent Bevins uses newly unveiled CIA documents and countless hours of interviews to reconstruct this chillingly overlooked chapter in U.S. history and reveal a hidden legacy that spans the globe. For decades, these conflicts have been minimized as a non-violent, 'cold' war. But those who suffered its consequences have long known differently.

“"Trenchant....powerful....[Bevins] translates the findings of complex scholarly accounts into smooth and readable, if often heartbreaking, prose." -- Boston Review”

"Tragically, that which everyone believed we had left in the past has returned to spread throughout Latin America once more. The Jakarta Method allows us to understand the moment that Brazil is now living through, and its connection to a much larger, global scheme."--Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist and The Pilgrimage "This fascinating book is a meticulous and shocking analysis of a little-known and horrifically bloody battle of the Cold War, but it is also something more. It places the Indonesia massacre of 1965 in its global context, showing how the United States both supported it and used it as a model for repression in other countries."--Stephen Kinzer, author of Overthrow, All the Shah's Men and Poisoner in Chief "In The Jakarta Method, Vincent Bevins argues persuasively that during the Cold War, the U.S. approved of mass murder campaigns to roll back communism in the Third World. This is a provocative, necessary book, an essential guide to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of our imperfect world. Highly recommended."--Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker staff writer, author of Che Guevara and Inside the League "The Jakarta Method is a gripping, thoroughly original exploration into the global covert Cold War, the passions it provoked, and the corpses it left in its wake. A full tally of the body count of the transnational counterinsurgency Washington has been waging since the early 1960s is impossible. But Bevins' excellent book offers a different kind of reckoning, of moral costs and ongoing political consequences. 'Jakarta is coming' was spray-painted on the walls of Santiago Chile in 1972, just before that country's CIA-backed coup, a way for that nation's rich to let the poor know the fate that would befall them were they to continue to fight for a more just society. 'Jakarta' did come, leaving hundreds of thousands of dead throughout Latin America. And, in a way, it never left."--Greg Grandin, Yale University, author of Fordlandia and The End of the Myth "Truly captivating.... Vincent Bevins offers us a compelling historical narrative, which he combines with thorough analysis and deeply personal reflections. He merges the big story of the Cold War with the stories of real individuals whose lives were profoundly affected. He masterfully connects the 1964 Brazil coup with the mass violence that took place in Indonesia in 1965, before connecting that slaughter with a series of mass murder programs in Latin America and around the world. In doing so, he offers new knowledge and insights not only into the brutal anticommunist purge in Indonesia, but into the ways that US foreign policy reshaped the world following the Second World War. Bevins is a brilliant and compassionate writer, and The Jakarta Method is eye-opening. I really hope the world pays attention to this book."--Baskara T. Wardaya, Sanata Dharma University Indonesia, author of 1965 and Truth Will Out "A shocking portrait that few readers will forget....[Bevins's] research is solid and his conclusions convincing. A well-delineated excavation of yet another dark corner of American history."--Kirkus Reviews

Vincent Bevins is an award-winning journalist currently working as Southeast Asia Correspondent for the Washington Post. He has reported from all across the region, while paying special attention to the 1965 massacre and contemporary Indonesian politics. He previously served as the Brazil Correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, also covering nearby parts of South America, and before that worked for both The Financial Times and The Guardian, in London. Among the publications he has written for are The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Economist, The Guardian, Financial Times, Foreign Policy, Folha de S.Paulo, The New Republic, Los Angeles Times, The New Inquiry, The Awl, The Baffler, and Paper Magazine. Bevins has appeared often as a guest expert on a wide range of media outlets, including NPR, the BBC, NBC, MSNBC, ABC News, HuffPost Live, Brazil's GloboNews and TV Brasil. He lives in Jakarta, Indonesia.

During the Cold War, the U.S. effort to contain communism resulted in several disgraceful and disastrous conflicts: Vietnam, Cuba, Korea. But other conflicts in Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, and other Latin American countries have arguably had a bigger hand in shaping today's world, yet the very nature of U.S. participation in them has been shrouded for decades. Until now. In 1965, nearly one million civilians were killed in Indonesia with U.S. assistance. The strategy went as follows: act early, play up the threat of a communist revolution, find the natural anti-communist elements in society, fund them, overthrow the sitting government, give the full backing of Washington to the new authoritarian state, and finally, turn a blind eye to the body count that mounts in its wake. It was a brutally efficient playbook that the CIA then emulated in Latin America in the decade that followed.In this bold and comprehensive new history, Washington Post reporter Vincent Bevins uses newly unveiled CIA documents and countless hours of interviews to reconstruct this chillingly overlooked chapter in U.S. history and reveal a hidden legacy that spans the globe. For decades, these conflicts have been minimized as a non-violent, 'cold' war. But those who suffered its consequences have long known differently.

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