A political purge began in the year 1965 that claimed an estimated one million lives. This mass killing targeted members of the political left and movements seeking government reform within the country.
American government officials provided direct support and complicity for anti-communist mass killings around the world from the Cold War until the present era. U.S. agencies facilitated these campaigns to destroy political leftists and economic reformers across multiple continents.
Operation Condor stands as a primary example of how authoritarian regimes in South America adapted the Indonesian strategy to eliminate government reform and economic reform movements. Patterns from the genocide in Indonesia reverberated through future anticommunist actions in other countries over subsequent years.
Vincent Bevins interviewed survivors to humanize large-scale political violence and chronicled their struggles firsthand. He gives voice to victims who have been silenced by history written by the victors.
Major publications praised The Jakarta Method as an excellent well researched and tightly written work. Reviewers like Thomas Kingston, Daniel Larison, Glenn Greenwald, and Stuart Schrader highlighted its dispassionate reading of history and documentation of the government's role in fostering systematic mass murder across the globe.