In August 1883 massive volcanic eruptions destroyed the island of Krakatau. A tsunami wreaked havoc in the region, causing countless deaths, and shock waves were recorded around the world. Since then, Krakatau has been the subject of more than 1,000 reports and publications, but the only surviving account of the event was written by an indigenous eyewitness. Muhammad Saleh writes in the form of a syair, a classical Malay rhymed poem. Krakatu: The Tale of Lampung Submerged sheds light on local responses to the widespread devastation in the region and enriches our knowledge of the...

Night had fallen, without complaint, without pretext. Like a black net enclosing the city, ink from a monster squid spreading across Jakarta's entire landscape-the color of my uncertain future.

So begins the novel Home (Pulang) and Leila S Chudori's remarkable fictional account of the impact of the September 30 Movement of 1965. This "movement," blamed by military leaders on the Indonesian Communist Party, led to the murder of a million or more presumed Communists and the imprisonment of tens of thousands presumed leftists and sympathizers. Thousands of Indonesian...