Culture Smart! provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and develop trust, friendships, and successful business relationships. Culture Smart! offers illuminating insights into the culture and society of a particular country. It will help you to turn your visit-whether on business or for pleasure-into a memorable and enriching experience. Contents include * customs, values, and traditions * historical, religious, and political background * life at home * leisure, social, and cultural life * eating and drinking * do's, don'ts, and taboos * business practices * communication, spoken and unspoken "Culture Smart has come to the rescue of hapless travellers." Sunday Times Travel "... the perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful and downright odd quirks and customs of various countries." Global Travel "...full of fascinating-as well as common-sense-tips to help you avoid embarrassing faux pas." Observer "...as useful as they are entertaining." Easyjet Magazine "...offer glimpses into the psyche of a faraway world." New York Times

Don't just see the sights—get to know the people. Indonesia, stretching across three time zones and situated on one of the world s great maritime trade routes, has a rich and varied culture. Culture Smart! Indonesia describes the many different cultural backgrounds that make up this rainbow nation, helping you to better understand the values that underpin its diverse society. It reveals how modern Indonesians view themselves and go about their daily lives, and gives advice on how to navigate unfamiliar situations. Armed with essential cultural information and tips on effective communication, readers are better placed to have a more meaningful and successful experience in this fascinating country. Have a richer and more meaningful experience abroad through a better understanding of the local culture. Chapters on history, values, attitudes, and traditions will help you to better understand your hosts, while tips on etiquette and communicating will help you to navigate unfamiliar situations and avoid faux pas.

"A spectacular achievement and one of the very best travel books I have read." —Simon Winchester, Wall Street Journal Declaring independence in 1945, Indonesia said it would "work out the details of the transfer of power etc. as soon as possible." With over 300 ethnic groups spread across over 13,500 islands, the world’s fourth most populous nation has been working on that "etc." ever since. Author Elizabeth Pisani traveled 26,000 miles in search of the links that bind this disparate nation.

Don't just see the sights—get to know the people. Malaysia presents visitors with an exciting and fascinating medley of cultures--Malay, Chinese, Indian, Arab, Eurasian, Dayak, and aboriginal. Though very much a modern nation state, its diverse communities retain a considerable amount of their unique heritage and, in its customs, religions, festivals, costume, cuisine, languages, and architecture, Malaysian society perfectly illustrates the virtues of a vibrant pluralism. Culture Smart! Malaysia sets out to help you navigate this rich and complex cultural mix. It provides a succinct and straightforward introduction to Malaysian history and society, explains the deeper core values of the different ethnic groups, and guides you through the maze of Malaysian etiquette and behaviour for both social and business settings. Have a richer and more meaningful experience abroad through a better understanding of the local culture. Chapters on history, values, attitudes, and traditions will help you to better understand your hosts, while tips on etiquette and communicating will help you to navigate unfamiliar situations and avoid faux pas.

Jakarta is a fascinating city. It's attraction lies in the incredibly wide variety of people - Indonesians, Chinese, Indians, Arabs and Europeans - who have arrived over the centuries, bringing with them their own habits, folklore and culture. Their descendants have resulted in a vibrant mix of people, most of them making a living along the thousands of small lanes and alleys that criss-cross the kampungs of this enormous city. Artefacts indicate that this area was inhabited from the fifth century. Hundreds of years later, a small trading post on the coast named Kelapa was founded and eventually grew into the mega-city of Jakarta with over twenty million people. This book provides a unique look at the history of Jakarta through the eyes of individuals who have walked its streets through the ages, revealing how some of the challenges confronting the city today - congestion, poverty, floods and land subsidence - mirror the struggles the city has had to face in the past.

New in the Short Histories of Asia series, edited by Milton Osborne, this is a readable, well-informed and comprehensive history of Indonesia and its peoples, from ancient origins to the present day.