Destiny

This book is a completely revised version of The Power of Prophecy; Prince Dipanagara and the End of an Old Order in Java, 1785–1855 (2007). A vivid biography of Indonesia’s foremost national hero, it tells the story of a remarkable figure whose life spanned his native Java’s troubled transition to the modern world. It will be read with profit by all those interested in the impact of European imperialism on non-European societies, the cultural encounter between West and East, the role of Islam in anti-colonial resistance, and the making of modern Indonesia. An Indonesian-language edition of Destiny has been published simultaneously by Indonesia’s leading publishing house, Penerbit Buku Kompas (Gramedia), as Takdir: Riwayat Pangeran Diponegoro (1785–1855).

Peter Carey, currently Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Indonesia in Jakarta and Fellow Emeritus of Trinity College, Oxford, has made a lifetime study of Prince Diponegoro and early nineteenth-century Javanese history. His latest book is The Power of Prophecy: Prince Dipanagara and the End of an Old Order in Java, 1785-1855 (2007). He is one of the foremost British historians of Southeast Asia and has also published on Burma and East Timor (Timor-Leste).