Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S.-Indonesian Relations, 1960-1968 1st Edition

by Bradley R. Simpson (Author)

5 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0804771825

ISBN-10: 0804771820

Why is ISBN important?

Sell yours for a Gift Card
We'll buy it for $1.70
Learn More
Trade in now

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Due Date: May 29, 2018 Rental Details

FREE return shipping at the end of the semester.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with rentals.

In Stock. Rented from Amazon Warehouse Deals , Fulfilled by Amazon

List Price: $25.95 Save: $15.58 (60%)

Free Shipping

Add to Rental Cart

Condition: Used - Good

In Stock. Sold by HPB-Dallas

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Only 19 left in stock (more on the way).

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

This item ships to France. Want it Monday, Dec. 18? Order within and choose AmazonGlobal Priority Shipping at checkout. Learn more

28 New from $23.67

Turn on 1-Click ordering

Ship to:

France

More Buying Choices

28 New from $23.67 19 Used from $16.00 1 Rentals from $10.37

48 offers from $10.37

See All Buying Options

Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

Offering the first comprehensive history of U.S relations with Indonesia during the 1960s, Economists with Guns explores one of the central dynamics of international politics during the Cold War: the emergence and U.S. embrace of authoritarian regimes pledged to programs of military-led development. Drawing on newly declassified archival material, Simpson examines how Americans and Indonesians imagined the country's development in the 1950s and why they abandoned their democratic hopes in the 1960s in favor of Suharto's military regime. Far from viewing development as a path to democracy, this book highlights the evolving commitment of Americans and Indonesians to authoritarianism in the 1960s on.

Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S.-Indonesian Relations, 1960-1968

$25.93 Only 19 left in stock (more on the way). Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Frequently bought together

Total price: $49.88

One of these items ships sooner than the other. Show details

Buy the selected items together

This item:Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S.-Indonesian Relations, 1960-1968 by Bradley R. Simpson Paperback $25.93
Only 19 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping. Details
Pretext for Mass Murder: The September 30th Movement and Suharto's Coup d'Etat in Indonesia (New… by John Roosa Paperback $23.95
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

John Roosa

11

Paperback
$23.95
Odd Arne Westad

27

Paperback
$20.64
Alfred W. McCoy

12

Paperback
$30.76
David Montejano

9

Paperback
$23.58
John W. Dower

136

Paperback
$13.71
Robert Vitalis

10

Paperback
$17.60

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Bradley R. Simpson's outstanding new book, Economists with Guns, provides chilling new evidence of American complicity with what the CIA itself referred to as 'the worst mass killings' since the era of Hitler and Stalin Simpson's book is highly significant in one other respect: it shows the perils of authoritarian models of economic development and the fallaciousness of the military modernization theories promoted by Kennedy-era intellectuals, which continue to hold some credence among foreign policy elites today." (History News Network)

"Based upon a remarkable wealth of recently declassified U.S. government documents, this meticulous study permits both new insights into well-known events and revelations of unknown events. A major contribution to the study of Indonesia's postcolonial history and to the field of U.S. Cold War diplomacy, it will remain a standard reference work for many years to come." (John Roosa)

"Simpson's book constitutes an important addition to our knowledge of the global Cold War. It is based on meticulous archival research, frames its detailed finding within a larger argument and is written in a direct and accessible prose style. This text will be of interest to scholars and students of U.S. foreign policy, the international Cold War, and the modern history of Southeast Asia and Indonesia." (Edward Aspinall)

"The author successfully applies the ideas of modernization theory to the Indonesian case, tracing America's ideologically informed notions of Indonesia's place in the regional and world economy. This comprehensive work offers a valuable new perspective." (Matthew Jones University of Nottingham)

About the Author

Bradley R. Simpson is Assistant Professor of History and International Affairs at Princeton University. He is also the director of a National Security Archive project to declassify U.S. documents concerning Indonesia and East Timor during the reign of General Suharto (1965-1998).

Paperback: 376 pages
Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (January 19, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0804771820
ISBN-13: 978-0804771825
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #987,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #999 in Books > History > Asia > Southeast Asia
- #1184 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > History > Asia
- #1531 in Books > Textbooks > Social Sciences > Political Science > International Relations

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Customer reviews

3 star (0%)

1 star (0%)

Write a customer review

See all 5 customer reviews

Rated by customers interested in

What's this?

Asian History

4.0 out of 5 stars

Politics & Government Books

2.8 out of 5 stars

International & World Politics Books

2.8 out of 5 stars

Is this feature helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Brad Rockwell

Must-read for understanding recent Indonesian history.

July 3, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Excellent book that is indispensable to understanding one of the most horrific acts of genocide in the 20th Century.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Boyce Hart

It's Time to give up on Beltway historians( the only kind left) of 1960-65:OvertakeLane!All Court Press.

December 16, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Not nearly enough on divisions within the National Security State. The author relies far too much on the phrase "the Kennedy Administration." This phrase obfuscates the real story here: the "intra-administration war", to use the New York Times phrase re Vietnam policy, but which is perhaps even more applicable to Indonesian policy differences between JFK and CIA. Of course this division, a matter of historic record, is completely off-limits within employable academia that is Garrison State USA or 2016. Perhaps I should be more sympathetic. The writer needs a job, and in the beltway, no less!

There is some good stuff in the book. It's just too late to give safety historians the benefit of the doubt i.e. the third star. It's too late. The safety historians are killing us, i.e. preventing too many from realizing that we are on Autopilot, government by National Security State right now. And the 1961-63 period is exactly when the overtake of three branches, once and for all, took place. . Time to read a real Australian ! This book is amazing. Truthfully we should read both books, and also the recent book by Rehovic called Kennedy Johnson and the Non-Aligned World. But this book-by-a-real-Australian is what the world needs now. https://www.amazon.com/Incubus-Intervention-Conflicting-Indonesia-Strategies/dp/9670630509/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1481889626&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=Dulles+Kennedy+IndonesiaThe Incubus of Intervention: Conflicting Indonesia Strategies of John F. Kennedy and Allen Dulles

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Maximini

An underlooked area in US foreign policy

September 29, 2017

Format: Paperback

I read this book in my 20th Century U.S, foreign relations class. My professor was actually on one of reward committees for this book. In fact the author used my professors book as a source. The reason why I read it for my history class is because the U.S. was heavily involved in Indonesia in foreign policy in the 1960s. The U.S. supported authoritarian regimes in order to fight against communism. This book provides a specific example of that policy making. It also provides a horrific account of how the US and Britain supported the genocide of suspected communists for economic interests and to get rid of communism. If you do read this book I would recommend getting a map of Indonesia because it's hard to keep track of where the locations are since Indonesia is an archipelago.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?

Yes

Maire Leadbeater

A breakthrough

April 26, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Authoritative, written in an accessible style. Founded in the most up to date research evidence for the period in question, it makes sense of this period of US involvement with post-colonial Indonesia. Reveals the extent of US complicity in the 1965 purge of alleged communists and communist sympathisers. It is a shocking but important book.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

not me

Follow the Money

January 30, 2012

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

"Economists with Guns" (great title!) is an excellent reconstruction of U.S. policy toward Indonesia under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, with a focus on U.S. development aid and military assistance. Indonesia was a key battleground of the Cold War -- with 100 million people, vast natural riches, a powerful Communist Pary, and an erratic nationalist President, it was courted by the U.S., the Soviet Union, and China alike. So much was at stake that Washington wooed Indonesia to the point of alienating NATO allies the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, which were locked in late-colonial confrontations with Indonesia in West New Guinea and Malaysia.

The book shows how the U.S. tried to use foreign aid to build up Indonesian anti-Communist groups and to link Indonesia to global markets and U.S.-supported security alliances. I took off one star mainly because the analysis, based largely on declassified U.S. documents, is heavily Washington-centric. Indonesian players have walk-on roles when they appear in U.S. memos and cables, but they don't star in the show. Unfortunately, presenting the story through a U.S. lens could mislead careless readers into thinking that Washington was pulling the strings in Jakarta. In reality, the U.S. embassy was often behind the curve and had little influence on local events, which unfolded according to their own logic. This situation only changed in 1966/67, when national bankruptcy forced the new military government to seek help from donors such as the U.S., Japan, and the IMF.

The book's DC-centric bias is most egregious in the retelling of the Indonesian Army's massacre of Communists in 1965/66. As the book makes clear, the U.S. cheered on and extended limited covert support to the killers. Our behavior was disgraceful. But if one reads between the lines, it's also clear that the purges caught the U.S. by surprise and were organized by Indonesian generals for purely Indonesian reasons. The bloodbath would have happened whether or not the CIA was involved. Placing evil U.S. behavior at the center of an historical narrative is aesthetically satisfying but it doesn't necessarily capture the real forces driving events.

0Comment 6 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S.-Indonesian Relations, 1960-1968

Set up a giveaway

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel Hardcover

Dan Ephron

102

$17.71

Pages with related products. See and discover other items: indonesia history

Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S.-Indonesian Relations, 1960-1968 1st Edition

Sorry, there was a problem.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Rent On clicking this link, a new layer will be open $10.37 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open

Buy used On clicking this link, a new layer will be open $16.00 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open

Turn on 1-Click ordering

Buy new On clicking this link, a new layer will be open $25.93 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open

Turn on 1-Click ordering

or

or

Frequently bought together

Customers who bought this item also bought

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Customer reviews

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Rent On clicking this link, a new layer will be open

$10.37 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open

Buy used On clicking this link, a new layer will be open

$16.00 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open

Buy new On clicking this link, a new layer will be open

$25.93 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open