The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World

This history examines U.S. involvement in mass killings of left-wing activists in Indonesia, Latin America, and other regions during the Cold War. In 1965, the U.S. government assisted the Indonesian military in killing approximately one million civilians, destroying the largest Communist Party outside China and the Soviet Union. This event inspired similar violence programs elsewhere. Vincent Bevins draws on declassified documents, archival research, and eyewitness accounts to document this global legacy. The book challenges the long-held narrative that the developing world transitioned peacefully into the U.S.-led capitalist system, arguing instead that the violent elimination of unarmed leftists was central to Washington's Cold War victory.