Some of the adventures in Norman Lewis's book about Indonesia are unpremeditated. He goes to Aceh, North Sumatra, in the hope of describing its reserve of the richest fauna and flora in the world but runs into a separatist insurrection and he is deserted by his guide. East Timor is notoriously hard to enter, but Lewis travels there with his daughter, in a lull in the fighting, stays in a Catholic orphanage, and returns with an account of the life of the survivors. In Irian Jays he learns of the existence of Yali tribal communities living in stone-age culture little altered in 10,000 years. Lewis's Yali hosts, who are presumed to have tasted human flesh, are courteous and kindly. This book, above all, is an account of a race against time to see, enjoy and describe beautiful places while they are still there.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Norman Lewis, like Graham Greene, has an unerring instinct for the trouble spots of the world. He wrote about Cambodia before the Indo-Chinese war, Vietnam before the Vietnamese war, and was one of the first to disclose the genocide being perpetrated by the actions of logging companies and north American missionaries on the Amazonian Indians. In this beautifully written, humane, witty and perceptive book he turns his gimlet eye on Indonesia, particularly the Indonesian government's imperial ambitions and appalling repression in East Timor and Irian Jaya. Lewis makes difficult and dangerous journeys through both areas, but his focus is never on himself. He concentrates always on the lives of the local people, their dangers, their sufferings and also the fragile, precious texture of everyday life - wars go on but people still repair their motorbikes, fly kites, marry, fish and go to school.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
As we have come to expect from such a distinguished and erudite man as Norman Lewis this book is a delight. Lewis seeks out the unusual but is so quick to pick up on subtleties, nuances, feelings of people and places. His musings and recordings are so insightful. Mr Lewis seems to glide through life, stops to admire the good and the bad, the saints and the sinners, and then moves effortlessly onwards. This book is a heart-stirring account of lifestyles that are fast being eradicated at the governments insistance and it should be read by anyoneinterested in the cultures of the East.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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4.0 out of 5 stars
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
From Medan to Merauke
5 Jun 2001
By Carool Kersten
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This is one of four great books which Norman Lewis wrote about his Asian travels. The author must have been pushing eighty when he embarked on his west to east journey through the 'Girdle of Emerald'.
The Dutch decribed the control they had established over a maritime empire consisting of more than 16,000 island as stretching 'from Medan to Merauke', and it is this itinerary that Lewis follows.
As usual he tries to stay away as far as possible from the beaten track. No Borobudur, Bali or Lake Toba here, instead the author and his companions decide to explore the northern tip of Sumatra, venturing into the troublesome Aceh province. The staunch Muslims of Indonesia's northern-most region are strongly independent. Even after decades of incessant warfare the Dutch had been unable to completely subjugate these Malay warriors. After independence the nationalist, Javanese-dominated government in Jakarta failed likewise.
Lewis then takes us to East-Timor, ravaged by the Indonesian military after the Portuguese withdrawal in 1975. Although political developments since Lewis' visits have changed the outlook of East-Timor dramatically, his account provides an interesting insight into the political situation of the territory just before the collapse of the Suharto-regime and subsequent granting of autonomy to East-Timor.
Finally the author visits the interior of Irian Jaya, the Indonesian-controlled half of New Guinea. A disconcerting portrayal of a traditional society on the verge of collapse is followed by a worrying report on the onslaught of greedy mining companies; Lewis makes us witnesses to an ecological disaster in the making.
'An Empire of the East' does not reach the level of his earlier books 'A Dragon Apparent' and 'Golden Earth' about French Indochina and Burma respectively. Written in the 1950s these two giants of 20th century travel literature established Norman Lewis as one of the greatest travel writers. Nevertheless, he has again been successful in presenting a cocktail based on his well-tried recipe: combining his highly original depictions of natural scenery with insightful portraits of the people he meets, and - above all - his penchant for unusual situations.
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