Criticisms first: because it covers such a wide swathe of the world, it tends to kind of gloss over a lot of stuff or deal with it in a couple of sentences. Very understandable given the wide scope but I'd assumed there'd at least be more detail on the specific Indonesian massacres it's titled after (although admittedly I'm not sure if I'd have been able to read them - the bits it does detail are absolutely horrific) - it gives some specifics but then kind of cuts off. There's a few bits that are glossed over that seem materially important, or at least deserve care when talked about: notably West Papua and Indonesia's diplomatic campaign to annex it is talked about but as if Indonesia *deserved* to annex it, without considering the active struggle ever since for different status. He introduces "crony capitalism" as a term to describe the economic systems of the third world anti communist dictatorships, which I always think is pretty useless.

Nevertheless, I gave it 5 stars because it's incredibly readable, compelling and important, bringing the international, mass murderous parts of anti communism to the fore and striking a good balance between showing the "home grown" nature of the dictatorships while also emphasising how the USA co-ordinated and supported them, making them possible at all against popular leftist movements. The sheer evil of what the USA supported, the millions of human lives directly wiped out to prop up the global order, the possibility for something different snuffed out: it's a book that makes you really angry. This book would be great for someone who's just learning about capitalist, imperialist foreign policy but even for those familiar with the narrative it's focused and there were lots of details I was unaware of. I appreciated the political clarity offered, making clear just how awful what happened was and how much it determined what the world looks like now. Great book. ( )

1. Profalactic coups
2. Mass murder and dissapearence of anyone who could be labeled communist.
3. American hegemony.

Just a heartbreaking book. ( )

Vincent Bevins nos presenta la historia oculta de las masacres respaldadas por Estados Unidos en Indonesia, América Latina y otros lugares del mundo. En 1965, el Gobierno norteamericano ayudó al Ejército indonesio a asesinar a cerca de un millón de civiles inocentes, uno de los puntos de inflexión del siglo xx. Se trataba de eliminar al partido comunista más grande fuera de China y la Unión Soviética, pero sus estrategias inspirarían programas de terrorismo de Estado similares en países lejanos como Brasil y Chile. Estos hechos siguen ocultos hoy bajo un manto de silencio. En esta audaz y completa historia, Bevins se basa en una década de corresponsal en Asia y América Latina para los principales periódicos estadounidenses, en documentos recientemente desclasificados, así como en archivos y declaraciones de testigos presenciales recopilados en doce países, para revelar un legado impactante que se extiende por todo el mundo. Durante décadas se dio por sentado que algunos de los países más poblados del mundo adoptaron pacíficamente el sistema capitalista liderado por Estados Unidos, pero El método Yakarta demuestra que el despiadado exterminio de izquierdistas desarmados fue fundamental para la victoria de Washington en la Guerra Fría.

PLEASE READ THIS BOOK ( )

America’s foreign policy supported dictators and mass repression, but what did that really mean? Bevins recounts how it worked in Indonesia, including funding military coups, supplying right-wing rebels with weapons, and cutting off trade and aid to governments deemed insufficiently anticommunist. And he traces how the Indonesian model of mass executions of Communists, or those considered Communist (one telling quote from an American involved in these programs explains that people could be Communist without believing that they were), spread through Asia, Latin America, and South America, mutating from political extermination to ethnic genocide in some cases. The spread was encouraged by right-wing groups within the affected countries as well as by American funders; it was deliberate; and its effects are far from over. ( )