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Raffles and the British Invasion of Java
by
Tim Hannigan (Goodreads Author)
On a hot August afternoon in 1811, an army of 10,000 British redcoats splashed ashore through the muddy shallows off Batavia (the former name of Jakarta, Indonesia's capital) to conquer the Dutch colony of Java. They would remain there for five turbulent years. Drawing on both British and Javanese archival sources, this entertaining and highly readable narrative history-cu
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ebook, 340 pages
Published
November 1st 2012
by Monsoon Books
(first published 2012)
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(showing 1-30 of 170)
Raffles and the British Invasion of Java, by Tim Hannigan, is a well researched and well-written book. Tim Hannigan presents Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (6 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) in a way he has rarely been seen; not as a liberal paragon, but as a flawed, overly-ambitious man. He is presented as intelligent and creative, but also as willful, petty and somewhat of a hypocrite.
An examination of the life and legacy of the man often credited with the success that is Singapore. This book looks at ...more
An examination of the life and legacy of the man often credited with the success that is Singapore. This book looks at ...more
As a Singaporean trying to understand more about the man whose overwhelming charm, intellect and preeminence is second only to founding father Lee Kuan Yew, this book served its purpose.
It also came with more than a bag full of unexpected surprises.
The author, Tim Hannigan, is prone to losing himself in exceedingly long poetic descriptions of scenic Java. I found this rather disorientating and out of place for what essentially is a book on history, but perhaps that was because the history I was ...more
It also came with more than a bag full of unexpected surprises.
The author, Tim Hannigan, is prone to losing himself in exceedingly long poetic descriptions of scenic Java. I found this rather disorientating and out of place for what essentially is a book on history, but perhaps that was because the history I was ...more
I do not normally read biographies but having met Tim Hannigan at The Penzance Literary Festival in July where he was running a workshop on travel writing I thought I would give this book a try. I was not disappointed. The author puts the reader squarely in the thick of the action. We can smell the jungle, the smoke and cordite of the muskets and hear the sound of canon fire, the cries of the combatants and the rattling of the sabers.
This is an account of a short lived campaign of the British a ...more
This is an account of a short lived campaign of the British a ...more
I had the impression that this famous man was not as squeaky clean in reputation as he is made out to be by the majority, especially those from the country he 'founded' (Singapore). When one reads about William Farquhar and how he fell out with Raffles, or even from a description of the man from his Malay tutor Munshi Abduallah, Stamford Raffles comes across as snooty and stand off-ish. But this account of the British campaign in Java prior to the founding of Singapore takes the cake in how the
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Raffles and the British Invasion of Java
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Raffles and the British Invasion of Java
by Tim Hannigan (Goodreads Author)
3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 · rating details · 25 ratings · 3 reviews
On a hot August afternoon in 1811, an army of 10,000 British redcoats splashed ashore through the muddy shallows off Batavia (the former name of Jakarta, Indonesia s capital) to conquer the Dutch colony of Java. They would remain there for five t ...more
Awal ketertarikan untuk membaca buku ini berawal dari ketika saya membaca kisah-kisah tentang Pangeran Diponegoro dan Perang Jawa (1825-1830). Dalam kisah Pangeran Diponegoro tersebut, diceritakan bahwa Sang Pangeran (muda) merupakan salah satu anggota keluarga kerajaan yang menjadi saksi dari penyerbuan yang dilakukan oleh pasukan Inggris terhadap Keraton Yogyakarta di tahun 1812. Serbuan yang meluluhlantakkan Keraton Yogyakarta tersebut ternyata dilaksanakan atas perintah Letnan Gubernur Jendr
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The book covers a fascinating, obscure moment in colonial history: the launching of Stamford Raffles' career with the five-year invasion of Java. Those five years are rich with material that Hannigan presents with a fresh eye, sensitive to the Javanese side of the story. The author sometimes seems to be nursing a grudge against his subject - the treatment of Olivia Raffles is downright mean - but the cloud of myth around Raffles is apparently pretty thick, and the author cuts through it with som
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"it would have been better if we had been colonized by the british, not the dutch."
ungkapan ini sering terdengar di telinga kita, juga di telinga penulis buku ini, seorang guru bahasa inggris ketika ia tinggal di surabaya.
sebagai orang inggris, rasa ingin tahunya sangat besar, ketika ia mengherani betapa orang indonesia malah merasa ketinggalan dibandingkan singapura dan malaysia, bahkan india. indonesia, menurutnya, jauh lebih kaya dan lebih menarik. apalagi cuma dibandingkan dengan ketiga nege ...more
ungkapan ini sering terdengar di telinga kita, juga di telinga penulis buku ini, seorang guru bahasa inggris ketika ia tinggal di surabaya.
sebagai orang inggris, rasa ingin tahunya sangat besar, ketika ia mengherani betapa orang indonesia malah merasa ketinggalan dibandingkan singapura dan malaysia, bahkan india. indonesia, menurutnya, jauh lebih kaya dan lebih menarik. apalagi cuma dibandingkan dengan ketiga nege ...more
Seperti membaca novel fiksi, terasa ringan dan tidak terbebani oleh "tanggal-tanggal penting". Penjabaran tentang Raffles dan tokoh lain terasa hidup. Seperti disuapi bubur bayi oleh ibu, karena ya... saya pemula dalam membaca buku sejarah seperti ini.
Compulsively readable, and offers an alternative view of Raffles and his exploits in Asia, from the gilded accounts of the man that we are used to reading.
a wonderful writing style.
This author shows a gift for easy-on-the-mind 'pop-history', which I love. He also enlightened me about a short period in Indonesian history which I was totally unaware of. Highly recommended.
Entertaining read. Does a good job of de-deifying Raffles. However, makes him a little one-dimensionally bad and unsympathetic. Colorful, but sometimes too cute in it's language.
Absolutely fascinating history-telling and a wonderful writing style.
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Tim Hannigan is a freelance author and travel journalist.
He was born in Penzance in Cornwall in the far west of the United Kingdom and specialises in writing about Indonesia and the Indian Subcontinent. He has contributed features and images to various newspapers and magazines in Asia, the Middle East and the UK.
Tim formerly worked as a professional chef, before studying journalism at the Univers ...more
More about Tim Hannigan...
He was born in Penzance in Cornwall in the far west of the United Kingdom and specialises in writing about Indonesia and the Indian Subcontinent. He has contributed features and images to various newspapers and magazines in Asia, the Middle East and the UK.
Tim formerly worked as a professional chef, before studying journalism at the Univers ...more
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