A disturbing, compelling and innovative history of decolonization
'Potentially the most important history book of this year'
NRC Handelsblad
‘Anne-Lot Hoek is one of those rare historians who conducts in-depth research and knows how to combine oral history with great readability. What an achievement, this study about Bali, what a penache!
David Van Reybrouck
Revolusi!, Congo - Winner Libris History Prize and Prix Médicis
‘This is an important and engaging work of history, deeply researched, elegantly written, intellectually significant. Top notch’
Prof. Geoffrey Robinson, UCLA
The Dark Side of Paradise, The Killing Season
‘A magnificent new research into the struggle of the local population in Bali against the colonial policy of the Netherlands. An important contribution to the scientific and public debate about colonial politics in Indonesia'
Jury Libris History Prize 2022
‘Great research by Anne-Lot Hoek into systematic government violence in Bali'
Roxane van Iperen
The Sisters of Auschwitz - #2 New York Times Bestseller
'What Caroline Elkins did with "Imperial Reckoning" for Kenya, listening to the Kenyans and taking their testimonies about Mau Mau seriously, Anne-Lot Hoek did for Bali'
Prof. Dr. Jan-Bart Gewald
Former Director African Studies Centre
‘This book is the result of an impressive and very important research and is also very well written'
Reggy Baay
Something horrible was done there
‘Anne-Lot Hoek is not lacking in talent. She turns out to be a thorough researcher, writes compellingly and manages to summarize the enormous amount of information she has collected into one readable whole. She gives a nuanced picture of a sad period in Bali.'
Herman Keppy (Indies Tijdschrift)
‘Her book is not only staggering, but also exciting and stimulating. It never gets boring. This is partly due to the many mysterious, colourful, heartwarming or, on the contrary, repulsive people who pass in review. Thorough and innovative research. Straightforward, uninhibited and fearless. Well written'
Willem Bouwman (Nederlands Dagblad)
'This book contains many new insights and is very well written.
Anne-Lot is the first historian to interview so many people on the spot and to do years of archival research. Our image of this period will never be the same again'
Van der Meer (Libris)
'And these are just two of the 120 testimonials from Anne-Lot Hoek's widely acclaimed and very readable The Battle for Bali. In 2013, she promised veteran Charles Destree (1926-2019) to get to the bottom of the story behind photos of dead Balinese in his photo album.
She did, and we should all be grateful for that.'
Marjolein van Asdonck (Moesson)
'This was inevitable: Anne-Lot Hoek with The Battle for Bali. Guys, this is a really good book for two reasons: it's very well researched, she's seen tons of archives. This time she spoke mainly to veterans from the Indonesian side. Third, it is very well written'
Wim Berkelaar on the NPO Radio 1 winner of Best History Book of the Month
‘The Battle for Bali is more than a summary of violence. Hoek also tells a bigger story about the decolonization of the entire Dutch East Indies. Hoek managed to wrest a lot of information from oblivion. In doing so, she really adds something to our knowledge of a recent past that has still not penetrated our collective memory. With her rich source material she gives her main characters a lot of color. An impressive book’
Jeroen van der Kris (NRC Handelsblad)
'In her impressive book, journalist and historian Anne-Lot Hoek provides a complex, layered picture of the gruesome struggle for independence on the Indonesian island of Bali. She shows with great clarity how the struggle on Bali between 1946 and 1949 should be understood in a long tradition of anti-colonial resistance'
Dr. Caroline Drieënhuizen
Open University, The Low Countries
‘The Battle for Bali has changed my insights the most. An impressive book! What makes her research innovative - in addition to the many Balinese testimonies - is that she has exposed the coherence between the violence and colonial policy. East Indonesia played a much larger role than was recorded. That resistance even led to a previously undiscovered hidden system of very violent prison camps’
Adriaan van Dis
Winner Golden Goosfeather, Libris Literature Prize
De Bezige Bij & Anne-Lot Hoek sign for her next books!
Anne-Lot Hoek will publish several books with De Bezige Bij (The Busy Bee) in the coming years.
Her debut De Strijd om Bali will be published in Indonesian in 2026.
To be continued!
10 Februari 2023 - PhD defence by Dr. Anne-Lot Hoek for "The battle for Bali. Violence, resistance and colonial state formation 1846-1950" at the University of Amsterdam
An unforgettable day in the Agnietenkapel at the University of Amsterdam. The Battle for Bali sealed as a promotion. On to new adventures and encounters!
Book Launch The Battle for Bali in Dutch - 24 November 2021 - SPUI25
In this program, journalist Harm Ede Botje interviews Anne-Lot Hoek, after which they talk to Wolter Gerungan, son of the Menadonese freedom fighter Willem Gerungan and Ida Lijftogt, daughter of former resistance fighter and civil servant Siebe Lijftogt. Ni Made Frischa Aswarini and Ni Ketut Sudiani participate in the program via a video.
About the speakers
Wolter Gerungan is the son of the Menadonese freedom fighter Willem Gerungan. Gerungan studied medicine in Jakarta in 1945 and was sent to Bali by Sukarno to proclaim the message of revolution there.
Ida Lijftogt is the daughter of former resistance fighter and civil servant Siebe Lijftogt. Lijftogt was one of the very few Dutch people in Bali who was able to translate the values of the resistance from the Second World War to the struggle for freedom in Indonesia.
Ni Ketut Sudiani is a Balinese author and journalist. In addition to a book, she published a documentary that was selected for the Creative Producing Lab Program by the international forum Docs by the Sea. She participated in the Indonesian-Canada Youth Exchange Program and the Indonesia-Australian Emerging Writers Exchange Program, among others.
Ni Made Frischa Aswarini is a Balinese poet and historian. Her first collection of poems, Tanda Bagi Tanya, was nominated for the Khatulistiwa Literary Award. She was the Indonesian representative for the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative in Yogyakarta in 2017 and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to the University of Wisconsin in the United States, where she is currently studying.
Harm Ede Botje (moderator) is a journalist and reporter at NU.nl, previously worked at Vrij Nederlanden and wrote 'My opinions are facts, the making of Thierry Baudet' together with Micha Cohen, which was nominated for best political book of 2020.
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Christiaan Franken, the son of missionary preacher Henk Franken who was a confidant of the Balinese resistance, gave Anne-Lot Hoek a large golden ring with a gemstone as a complete surprise at the end of the book launch because, according to him, she did justice to the history of the people of Bali and the three fathers (Henk Franken, Siebe Lijftogt and Willem Gerungan) with her book.
The ring was given to Henk Franken decades ago by the Raja of North Bali, Pandji Tisna, out of gratitude for their special friendship. The person who receives the ring, according to the Balinese monarch, belongs from that moment on to their royal family. Christiaan, the son of Henk Franken, wore the ring since the death of his father until this special moment.
