An Empire of the East: Travels in Indonesia

A more recent travel book from Norman Lewis, full of his trademark insightful comment on the environment in which he is traveling and the people he meets along the way. This book also contains a moderate dose of reprobation concerning the trampling of human rights and worse. An interesting read though not reaching the heights (for me, anyway) of Naples '44 and Golden Earth.

Graham Greene called Lewis "one of the best"; Pico Iyer said he's "one of the world's last unguarded secrets"; and Anthony Burgess said "his prose is almost edible." And yeah, he's pretty good. Lewis visits deep into the leafy and political jungles of Sumatra and East Timor, describing the lurking perils of Indonesian restaurants that cook their food once a week and political land mines as well. "Empire" is a scholarly and well-written treatment of Indonesia.

I love Norman lewis. This was not his best work, but still better than most travel writers. he covers Sumatra, Timor, and Indonesian New Guinea.

A travel book that needed editing, as for me it is way too long. Some interesting parts, but gets bogged down.

Brilliant travelbook, in which Lewis travels through Indonesia.But he does more than traveling:IN Irian Jaya, Kalimantan, The Moluccas, he sees how the Indonesian government is destroying her own country by making contracts with e.g. forest investors, coppermines owners. Depressing , but very good.