This study by Mr. Idrus Nasir Djajadiningrat covers an important but hitherto virtually unchronicled aspect of modern Indonesias history - the first period of negotiations between the revolutionary Republic of Indonesia and the Netherlands. While a substantial monograph by Dr. Alastair Taylor on the final stages of these negotiations is soon to be published, as yet no serious scholarly study has been written covering the two major previous phases, the initial period of contacts (late 1945 until mid-1946) and the intermediate Linggadjati period (mid-1946 - mid-1947). It is the earliest of...