The so-called counter coup by General Suharto in 1965 unleashed three years of mass violence aimed at destroying the social bases of President Sukarno's left-leaning Guided Democracy and establishing a military regime that was authoritarian and pro-Western. In the process, hundreds of thousands of people were killed, tortured, imprisoned and/or faced ongoing discrimination.

This volume helps uncover more details of this painful chapter in Indonesian history. Students of Indonesia will learn much from the accounts in this volume, but the discussion will also benefit scholars concerned with the dynamics of mass violence, the Cold War, regime change and counter-revolution.