{"product_id":"empire-of-the-east-book-norman-lewis-9781780601021","title":"Empire of the East","description":"Norman Lewis was eighty-three years old when in 1991 he embarked on a series of three arduous journeys into the most contentious corners of Indonesia: into the extreme western edge of Sumatra, into East Timor and Irian Jaya. He never drops his guard, reporting only on what he can observe, and using his well-honed tools of irony, humour and restraint to assess the power of the ruling Javanese generals who for better or worse took over the 300-year old dominion of the exploitative Dutch colonial regime.  An Empire of the East is the magnificent swan-song of Britain's greatest travel writer: unearthing the decimation of the tropical rain forests in Sumatra, the all but forgotten Balinese massacre of the communists in 1965, the shell-shocked destruction of East Timor, the stone-age hunter-gathering culture of the Yali tribe (in western Papua New Guinea) and perhaps most chilling of all, his visit to the Freeport Copper mine in the sky - which is like a foretaste of the film Avatar - but this time the bad guys, complete with a well-oiled publicity department, triumph. He left us with a brilliant book, that reveals his passion for justice and his delight in every form of human society and still challenges our complacency and indifference.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49666456781073,"sku":"GOR013765862","price":12.69,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49735696220433,"sku":"NGR9781780601021","price":19.29,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49955445309713,"sku":"GOR007302252","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49973954969873,"sku":"GOR006571534","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1780601026.jpg?v=1751442700","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/empire-of-the-east-book-norman-lewis-9781780601021","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}