Although Indonesia has the fourth largest population in the world, its history is still relatively unknown. Adrian Vickers takes the reader on a journey across the social and political landscape of modern Indonesia, starting with the country's origins under the Dutch in the early twentieth-century, and the subsequent anti-colonial revolution which led to independence in 1949. Thereafter the spotlight is on the 1950s, a crucial period in the formation of Indonesia as a new nation, followed by the Sukarno years, and the anti-Communist massacres of the 1960s when General Suharto took over as president. The concluding chapters chart the fall of Suharto's New Order after thirty two years in power, and the subsequent political and religious turmoil which culminated in the Bali bombings in 2002. Adrian Vickers is Professor of Asian Studies at the University of Wollongong. He has previously worked at the Universities of New South Wales and Sydney, and has been a visiting fellow at the University of Indonesia and Udayana University (Bali). Vickers has more than twenty-five years research experience in Indonesia and the Netherlands, and has travelled in Southeast Asia, the U.S. and Europe in the course of his research. He is author of the acclaimed Bali: a Paradise Created (Penguin, 1989) as well as many other scholarly and popular works on Indonesia. In 2003 Adrian Vickers curated the exhibition Crossing Boundaries, a major survey of modern Indonesian art, and has also been involved in documentary films, including Done Bali (Negara Film and Television Productions, 1993).

In this edition, Merle Ricklefs poses the question of how diverse but related linguistic and ethnic communities came to form the unitary Republic of Indonesia, and sheds important light on the crises and challenges facing this vast nation.

Culturally and politically, Indonesia is one of the more complex countries in the world, with 336 ethnic groups speaking 583 languages and dialects. It is only recently that these people have been contained within one political framework. Throughout most of history, Indonesia's inhabitants were divided politically in many different ways as a bewildering array of kingdoms and empires rose and fell within the region. Since independence in 1945, one of the challenges Indonesia faces is constructing a unified national identity. Through six chapters, Drakeley discusses Indonesian history beginning with settlement and social development in 5,000 BCE, through the Colonial Era, the Independence Movement, the Sukarno Era, and the Soeharto Era, to the 2004 elections. Ideal for students and general readers, the History of Indonesia is part of Greenwood's Histories of Modern Nations series. With over thirty nation's histories in print, these books provide readers with a concise, up-to-date history of countries throughout the world. Reference features include a biographical section highlighting famous figures in Indonesian history, a timeline of important historical events, a glossary of terms, and a bibliographical essay with suggestions for further reading.

With deep interest I have followed the Indonesian people's fight for freedom and independence from 1945 onwards. This interest has come to be centred in particular on the question of how religions, especially Islam, were involved in this struggle, and what role they would fulfil in the new Indonesia. After having lived and worked in Indonesia from 1946 to the end of 1959, I was twice more enabled to yisit I ndonesia thanks to grants from the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO). It was during these sojourns in particular, from May to October 1966 and from February to July 1969, that the material for this study was collected, supplemented and checked. For the help I received during these visits I am greatly indebted to so many Indonesian informants that it is impossible to mention them all. Moreover, some of them would not appreciate being singled out by name. But while offering them these general thanks I am thinking of them all individually. In spite of all the help given and patience shown me, this publication is bound to be full of shortcomings. An older Muslim friend, however, once encouraged me by reminding me that perfection belongs only to God (al-kamal li'llah). Nevertheless, I should like to offer my apologies for errors and mistakes; I would appreciate it if readers drew my attention to them.

Challenging the Secular State examines Muslim efforts to incorporate shari’a (religious law) into modern Indonesia’s legal system from the time of independence in 1945 to the present. The author argues that attempts to formally implement shari’a in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim state, have always been marked by tensions between the political aspirations of proponents and opponents of shari’a and by resistance from the national government. As a result, although pro-shari’a movements have made significant progress in recent years, shari’a remains tightly confined within Indonesia’s secular legal system. The author first places developments in Indonesia within a broad historical and geographic context, offering a provocative analysis of the Ottoman empire’s millet system and thoughtful comparisons of different approaches to pro-shari’a movements in other Muslim countries (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan). He then describes early aspirations for the formal implementation of shari’a in Indonesia in the context of modern understandings of religious law as conflicting with the idea of the nation-state. Later chapters explore the efforts of Islamic parties in Indonesia to include shari’a in national law. Salim offers a detailed analysis of debates over the constitution and possible amendments to it concerning the obligation of Indonesian Muslims to follow Islamic law. A study of the Zakat Law illustrates the complicated relationship between the religious duties of Muslim citizens and the nonreligious character of the modern nation-state. Chapters look at how Islamization has deepened with the enactment of the Zakat Law and demonstrate the incongruities that have emerged from its implementation. The efforts of local Muslims to apply shari’a in particular regions are also discussed. Attempts at the Islamization of laws in Aceh are especially significant because it is the only province in Indonesia that has been allowed to move toward a shari’a-based system. The book concludes with a review of the profound conflicts and tensions found in the motivations behind Islamization.

This book provides new data and perspectives on the development of 'world religion' in post-colonial societies through an analysis of the development of 'Hinduism' in various parts of Indonesia from the early twentieth century to the present. This development has been largely driven by the religious and cultural policy of the Indonesian central government, although the process began during the colonial period as an indigenous response to the introduction of modernity.