An Empire of the East: Travels in Indonesia

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.