Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world and home to the largest Islamic population on earth. Indonesian Street Food Secrets: A Culinary Travel Odyssey is an impressive compilation of ethic family recipes that are prepared right on the sidewalk by Indonesian food vendors. Enhanced with 230 color photographs of the food and culture, Indonesian Street Food Secrets also includes an accompanying CD-ROM providing hours of movies, sounds and recipes that are customizable for their degree of "hotness" and party size. With its collection of authentic recipes, Indonesian Street Food Secrets will prove to be a unique addition to kitchen cookbook collections and is especially recommended to dining clubs wanting to celebrate the culinary traditions of the Indonesian archipelago!

Although I have never been to Indonesia, nor am I an experienced cook, I found this book fascinating. It really is about the Indonesian culture as it is represented by its food. The photos are outstanding and give the reader a non-tourist view of of this intriguing land. The recipes are easy to follow and the author gives substitute ingredients if the more exotic foods can not be found. I very much enjoyed reading the information sections and can't wait to try some of the recipes.

If you like Indonesian food as much as I do, you'll have to order this delightful book. Keith Miller finds the essence of the complex Indonesian culinary culture and provides all the "how-to-do-it" information necessary to prepare the wonderful foods of Indonesia. The book comes with a CD-ROM that helps explain to techno-geeks what can be found within the pages of the book itself. I guess some people need to see it on a computer screen before they get it. The book itself has great color photographs of all the required ingredients and the various techniques of Indonesian food preparation.

"Merdeka Square" ("Freedom Square")

For the Western spies on the prowl in Jakarta, 1965 was the best of times and the worst of times. The political climate was as sordid as a Turkish steam bath and just as tricky to find your way about in. But there was real intelligence work to be done. The agents saw their task as saving Indonesia from the creeping Red menace. The country's Communist Party was Asia's largest outside China and was gaining influence over President Soekarno. His wavering threatened to destabilize an already shaky Southeast Asia as the Soviet Union's influence and investments in Indonesia soured, whilst China increased its hold on political life.

The West, alarmed by the growing communist influence in Asia, funded six assassination attempts against President Soekarno and, when these failed, coerced and bribed a group of generals to overthrow their charismatic leader. Secretly, Australia deployed its SAS along the Malay/Indonesian border and for three years these special forces troops penetrated deep into Indonesia, killing the Soviet backed enemy, the skies above protected by nuclear-armed British Vulcan bombers which flew regular, covert missions over Indonesia's densely populated cities.

Among the secret service agents watching these developments was Harry Bradshaw, whose sexual adventures land him in a Soviet entrapment. His protégé is Murray Stephenson, a trained ASIS agent whose position in the embassy provides a colorful background for the sinister, dangerous machinations and turmoil which brought President Soeharto to power, resulting in the slaughter of half a million Indonesians.

Based on fact, the story commences with Murray being recruited by the Secret Service and sent to Indonesia where he assimilates easily, reporting on student unrest as university campuses are infiltrated by communist elements. Handsome, young and fluent in Bahasa Indonesia, Murray's sexual exploits lead him into dangerous liaisons with influential Javanese women, one a member of the spiritualist sect, Subud, the other an active officer of the communist women's militia.

When Bradshaw is murdered by the Soviets, his replacement, the Melbourne based ASIS chief, obviously unfriendly to his predecessor's protégé, tragically creates an air of distrust amongst the Jakarta based agents. Murray becomes reluctant to pass all his intelligence findings back to Melbourne, confiding in the Military Attaché who accompanies the agent on his mission to save the life of the man who would become the Indonesian president for the next three decades.

This is the inside story to The Years of Living Dangerously. In 1965 as three different factions move to effect their coup d'etat against the ailing president, we find the Americans backing a group of generals whilst Murray is deeply involved in the intrigue surrounding the communists own plans to effect a takeover. Secretly, the West also supports a junior general by the name of Soeharto.

-2-
During the last days of September a list is given to the communists who sweep silently into Jakarta and commence their bloody coup. Six generals are captured and murdered, unwittingly clearing the way for Soeharto to assume power the following day. Tanks fill the capital as two hundred thousand troops swarm over the city, split loyalties spawning firefights throughout Jakarta which falls to the communists for less than one day. Soeharto's headquarters face the US embassy on Merdeka Square and it is here, alongside the national monument, that the young general makes his bold move. Within hours he recaptures the capital.

The Soviets move to shore up their own position, fearing that the West had effected the coup which would result in Indonesia turning from its Russian allies. The KGB First Secretary contacts anti-Soeharto army officers, who set about plotting to kill the pro-West, General Soeharto whose forces commence their campaign of slaughter across the nation, throwing the archipelago into civil war.

Murray's communist lover Yanti temporarily escapes the purge only to be captured, interrogated and executed. His other companion, the seductive Ade, has been reporting on Murray activities to the interim military regime that attempts to execute the Australian spy.

Traitorous military elements initiate a plot to kill Soeharto, foiled by Murray who manages to prevent the new leader's aircraft from taking off with the deadly bomb on board.

Murray returns to Melbourne and, disillusioned with the Secret Service, resigns.
As he leaves the building there is a curt exchange between him and the new ASIS chief, and the reader is introduced to Stephen Coleman, Murray's replacement who takes the story into the post coup period of corruption, murder and the amassing of incredible wealth as Indonesia leaps forward. The sequel is titled "The Timor Man".

Having lived and worked in Asia,with a number of years in Indonesia, Kerry Collison's books have not only given me substantial pleasure in his presentation of life in this giant archipelago, but has also provided me with a much deeper understanding of what makes these people tick. Move over Tom Clancy! We have a new author in town!

If you like Tom Clancy you will love this book. Also if you have any interest in looking into the minds of the Indonesian government or military then this book is for you. Kerry Collison writes about a subject he lived not just something he read about in history books. The writing style is not the traditional American style, which gives the story more power. Kerry carries his readers along with his characters as if you were there. Great read I look forward to reading the second in the Trilogy.

This little book is essential for travelers to a country where food is riotously varied, delicious and, to most of us, utterly unfamiliar. It begins with a brief historical survey of the cuisine, citing the contributions of successive immigrant or colonial groups, then slices the other way, with sections on Indonesia's major culinary regions and their specialties and characteristics. Recipes, a listing of US sources for ingredients, then phrases in Indonesian all follow. Two alphabetical listings are the heart of the book: One is of menu items, with brief descriptions and notations; the other is of "foods and flavors" (and utensils, cooking methods and so on), in Indonesian, with English translations or explanations. The whole is thorough, information-packed and mouthwatering.

For a country of 17,000 islands and 670 dialects, and complex traditions, religion and culture, no one-including Indonesians-can claim to know more about Indonesia's traditional food tastes than the authors of Eat Smart in Indonesia. Their guide is the first ever published with in-depth information about the unique and diverse food of Indonesia. -William W. Wongso, culinary educator, president of William F & B Management, Jakarta, Java

The authors have written a series of Eat Smart books that no traveler to foreign countries should be without. Each book covers a separate country--Eat Smart in Turkey, Eat Smart in Brazil, Eat Smart in Indonesia and Eat Smart in Mexico--and is chock full of information that you won't find elsewhere within the covers of one easy-to-carry paperback. Individual chapters cover such topics as the history of the country's cuisine, regional foods, how to shop in the local markets, mail-order sources for suppliers of ingredients, and a collection of recipes for typical dishes found in that country. Especially useful is each book's extensive menu guide, listing menu terms alphabetically in the language of the foreign country, with a description of the dish in English. That section is followed by a chapter titled "Foods & Flavors"--listing the foreign terms for foods, spices, kitchen utensils and cooking techniques, with an English translation/description. These books are well researched, accurate and very informative. Highly recommended. --Sharon Hudgins, editor, Chile Pepper magazine

Many Americans have probably never heard of East Timor, and most of us--including those who are active followers of world affairs--would probably have some difficulty pinpointing it on a map. Arnold Kohen does a remarkable job of introducing this unfamiliar land. It's very hard not to feel sympathy and a healthy dose of admiration for the inhabitants of this long embattled nation. The book simultaneously serves as a hagiography of East Timor's heroic favorite son, and Bishop Belo's extraordinary life greatly enhances the work's inspirational level.

Among East Timor's striking characteristics is the fact that it may be the strongest seat of Catholicism on Earth today. Over 85% Catholic (less than half was in the 1960's) its rate of practicing members puts most other countries to shame. The cathedral's 6 a.m. weekday Mass regularly has an overflow crowd of 1000+. John Cardinal O'Connor once told Bishop Belo how envious he was at East Timor's teeming seminarians. Even its Indonesian occupiers concede the Church's massive influence. Although they disdain Bishop Belo for his tireless devotion to human rights, they often unhappily allow him to mediate disputes with Timorese resistance fighters.

The East Timorese greatly need this faith because the world has turned a blind eye toward the genocide inflicted upon them. Those of us in America who seethed under the reign of Bill Clinton probably never realized how culpable he was for tacitly approving these crimes against humanity. The author on numerous occasions sites examples where the United States after decades of inexplicable silence at Indonesia predation became a veritable proponent when Clinton--abandoning his campaign rhetoric about the suffering East Timorese--wanted expanded trade with the highly populated interloper. Bishop Belo is probably the only person in history to be awarded a Nobel peace Prize without a word of praise or congratulations from the Unites States Government because it was bestowed at a very inconvenient time for pending trade deals.

The island nation faces an uncertain future, and all Catholics and others concerned with human rights should monitor the situation closely. Despite the unending brutal assaults bravely endured by the East Timorese citizens, their bold faith is a good omen that eventually their struggle will be victorious.

Many books have already been written about the tragic events of East Timor between 1998 and today, namely since when the regime of president Suharto of Indonesia collapsed, and the territory started on its slow, exciting, yet very painful path towards independence. Some books are more academic, others more journalistic and speculative. This book by Arnold Kohen, a long-time East Timor expert, makes it clear that the author is no academic or journalist in search of quick success. He is someone who has followed East Timor for a while, and has also been active and become known as a prominent East Timor lobbyist. He has now been able to recollect in this book some excellent material, excellently edited, about Monsignor Belo's role in the struggle for independence. The book is written in a vivid style, it is chilling, it is direct, yet (despite the rather eye-catching and shocking title) without leaving the place to any sensationalism... All the book says is, very unfortunately, totally true. Whether Bishop Belo's struggles could be defined as "epic" is another matter. Meanwhile, this book makes a strong and meaningful contribution to knowledge on the recent events, and also makes excellent, educative and even pleasant, if shocking, reading.

Now that Archbishop Belo has been driven into exile, and his beloved Timor transformed into an abbatoir, this superb book is more important than ever. I will not praise Belo, save to say that I hope that he is eventually canonized. I will just say one thing. This book reveals such a consistent record of perfidy, stupidity, and cupidity on the part of the United States government as to make even the most patriotic man or woman ashamed of being an American. As readers of some of my other reviews will know, I am fairly Conservative Republican. Reading of Fords, Reagans , and Bushes short-sightedness and incompetence in the matter of Timor saddened and enraged me.The only ( slight)point in their favor is that the Democratic Presidents, Carter, and Clinton, were just as bad; Carter through simple incompetence, and Clinton through cowardice and greed. Let it be asaid and said plainly: The Clinton campaign became so dependent on the Riady families money that they turned blind eye to the atroicities occuring in Timor. With the laudable exception of a few republican members of congress such as Malcolm Wallop and Frank Wolf, practically no American public figure-Republican, democrat, or independent- has spoke out on the horrors occuring in Timor. Now, when it may well be too late, the world has begun to wake up.It is time for all men and women of good will, of all political and religous faiths, to cry out "Enough". We cannot be so dependent on the raw materials and sweat shop produced sneakers and toys emanating from Indonesia that we would let theese horrors continue. I am going to phone and write every member of congress I know, asking them that they vote to discontinue ALL foriegn aid to Indonesia. I will also openly ask ALL presidential candidates- Republican, Democratic, and independent,if they will continue to support our bankrupt policy toward this outlaw state, Indonesia. I hope EVERY responsible American does the same.I beg my fellow Americans;have the courage to read this book, and the sensitivity to be outraged by what it contains.

A great read. Brings out the warmth of the people, the depth of their culture and takes you on an unforgettable journey to the heart of Bali. I've only had a short stopover in Bali, where I picked up this wonderful book, but I want to return and spend time just wandering. If you read only one book to prepare you for Bali, read this one.

I picked up this book at Changi airport in Singapore, in transit to Bali. I import from Bali and frequently add books to my load read them once, and leave them in the library in Bali for others to enjoy. This one I have kept. I will not even loan it out unless I know exactly where I can hunt the person down to get it back - it is a great book. Great reading for the seasoned traveller. Great intro for people who are planning to go to Bali. I am currently ordering a few copies here at Amazon (the only place Stateside I was able to find it) to give to a friend (so I don't have to loan my copy out :))))))

Having just returned from my first visit to Bali, I have been anxious to read more about the people, culture, traditions, and religion. This book is an excellent recounting of one couple's experience living with a Balinese family. It was almost like getting to return to Bali for another visit. The writing is clear, concise, and illuminating. I truly enjoyed this book.

This remarkable book first caught my attention at the Australian Museum in Sydney one hot summer day. I was preparing my own expedition to Papua New Guinea in order to write a book on the rarely visited island provinces. I would be doing my own photography. As I leafed through these breathtaking portraits I experienced that shiver at the base of the neck that invariably indicates one is in the presence of great art. Only later came the gut-wrenching realisation that I would never be able to achieve such consummate skill myself (even with my old Nikon F2 and all the best old lenses).
Rainier has a passionate eye for composition, atmosphere and the eloquent possibilities of black and white texture. As you read the detailed and often poetic text accompanying the photographs, you will also find that Chris overcame incredible disasters in conquering this inhospitable environment to bring us these images. In the massive heat and humidity of Papua New Guinea, photographic equipment performs all sorts of horrible tricks at vital moments. Everything seems wet and clammy all the time. His canoe overturned and he lost all his valuable equipment and somehow replaced it to continue his expedition. To even get yourself into the remote areas where some were taken is an achievement in itself and then to emerge from the jungle with high art.......what can one say?
These photographs cross that difficult invisible line that separates art and photography.....very few have the genuis.....Brassai, Cartier Bresson, Eugene Atget and Salgado.....yes, these are Chris Rainier's peers. The images have the immortal immobility of an ancient and inaccessible past recaptured. The quality and sheer size of the prints is superb. All this lead me to convince my publishers to put one of his pictures on the jacket of my own Papua New Guinea book and one of my own more decorative photographs on the back.......a suitable place for this photographic Salieri. Sales are better than expected.
Buy his book as a tribute to a great photographic artist and in the process truly enrich your own cultural horizons.

This book surpassed my expectations! It could be seen as a documentary but transcends being pigeonholed in that way. It is, among other things, a breathtaking work of Art. The images have a crisp presence; at the same time there is a dreamlike undercurrent. The reproduction quality of the images is superb; they can hardly be distinguished from original silver prints! I also like the humble attitude of the Artist towards the people he portrays. Indeed, a masterpiece!

This book brought back vivid and fond memories of the time I lived in Papua New Guinea in 1960 -1962. The use of black and white photography was especially effective in capturing the essense of simplicity that represents the people. If you truly wish to see human spirit at it's best, visit New Guinea. If you can't - buy this book!

In this trilogy, Kerry Collison captures 3 decades of Indonesian political upheaval from the standpoint of someone who has actually lived through most of what he writes about. When I first picked up Freedom Square I felt it must be strongly based on fact - after reading recently declassified State Department documents on the US role in Indonesia at that time, I find that the books are even more fact-based than I had thought. Before reading them, I knew almost nothing about Indonesia except that it sounded exotic. After reading them, I can't understand how I could have been satisfied with that level of ignorance for so many years.

Collison writes with authority about a subject he knows as well as anyone else in the world. The books are hard to put down, and I lost a LOT of sleep because I couldn't stop turning the pages. If you are interested in exotic locations in general or Indonesia in particular, you must read these books.

An exciting, obviously thoroughly researched trilogy of books which not only carry the reader through the exciting periods commencing with the Years of Living Dangerously to the present but also provide a clever insight into the dangerous machinations of our own political leadership with respect to how we have treated emerging Asian powers. A great read!

What a great way to learn about the Asian cutltures and business practices yet be entertained whilst doing so. I was captured from the outset, the author's style and obvious in depth knowledge of the people and the shadowy world of politics and spies. Kerry B. Collison rates up there with Michener, Forsythe and Wilbur Smith.

When I was in Australia in 1998 I purchased and read all three books of the Indonesian Trilogy by Kerry Collison. I was so impressed by the books that I have been trying to obtain copies for gifts. The author obviously has inside knowledge of Indonesia and his ability to predict future events, some of which have since taken place, is remarkable.

The books are well written and exciting. I rate them among the very best "secret service" novels that I have read.

Collison has done it again. Fast on the heels of the Timor Man Collison puts together a ripping yarn of political intrigue, current regional events and a series of charaacters straight out a amodern wayang kulit. This book will hold your interets and is a great read.

I remember seeing the movie "The Year of Living Dangerously" several years ago. Merdeka Square gave me the chance to really understand what happened. My understanding is that most of this book is solidly based on fact and the personal experiences of the author - this gives the book an air of solid authenticity that is sadly lacking in thrillers written by others who lack direct personal experience in the areas they write about. Collison's experiences as an intelligence agent in Indonesia at this time shine through, making this one of the most compelling reads I have had.

It is soo good !! I tried the eggs curry from Indonesia it is so yummy !! Also the have menu suggestions so that was real helpfull since I do a lot of parties !!!

This book is incredible. First, the photography is excellent, beautifully portraying most of the recipes. The book begins with a complete listing of all of the ingredients used. It is about 6 pages of pertinent information, including pictures for some of the most obscure ingredients. The recipes cover a thorough range of the basic recipes that you may be looking for. I am Indian and am thrilled with the list. Just about every recipe is critical, they appear back-to-back and have several pictures. I will probably cook every recipe in the Indian section. That section alone makes it worth the purchase. However, it covers seven other asian cuisines in a very similar manner. It also offers enticing "melting pot" menus, mixing the cuisines. You will get the recipes you want, that you can make, with a little commentary and exquisite pictures. This is one of the best cook books I have ever seen.

All recipes are well described and illustrated. Everything is clear and easy to understand.

I actually picked this book up because of the beautiful cover and unique title. I don't usually pick an anonymous author, but I'm glad I did. The story was an easy read, once you get past the hard pronounciations of names and cultural words. This is a necessity to the story so is easily overlooked as I tried to pronounce these foreign terms. There are so many facets to the story that all tie together in the end in an amazingly simple way. It makes one want to visit Bali, but not the Bali of today as much as the one told about. I would recommend this book to any reader of love stories, fantastical reads, suspense or drama.

...and a beautiful culture it is, too -- Bali. Diana Darling has taken an ancient Balinese folktale, re-set it in modern times (allowing outside 'advanced' cultures to conflict with the peaceful nature of her exotic setting), and given the reader a treasure.

The author is very knowledgeable and sensitive to the Balinese culture and language -- and her work is an immensely compelling fable, with much for the reader to harvest, both as 'mere' entertainment and as a valuable immersion into a rich world that is so different from our own that it could easily be on another planet. The lessons are gentle and not too hard to grasp -- the love with which the Balinese people treat their environment and each other is wonderful to behold. Her characters are well-developed and entirely believable -- and the story itself, while uniquely applied to Bali, is really a universal one: good versus evil and questions about life values -- things which all of us need to consider from time to time, no matter how 'enlightened' we think we are.

This is an absolutely beautiful book -- I can recommend it highly.

Diana Darling's Painted Alphabet from Periplus provides an unusual story based on a Balinese epic poem. Romance, philosophy, and women's issues blend within the context of Balinese culture in this gentle tale.