I remember leading a walking tour for a Dutch traveler. As we stood by the Tugu monument, we talked about the independence struggle. I told him how we basically "paid for the bullets that killed us."

That reality hit him hard. There was so much he didn’t know, and the more we talked, the more he wanted to learn.

​I really appreciate travelers like this who want to learn. When he asked me where he could buy books about Indonesia, I told him, "Periplus bookstore."

Periplus is well known for quality imported English books and magazines. In Malang, there are actually two Periplus stores. Regarding the independence struggle and our national identity, these are the books I recommend:

I recommend reading Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World by David Van Reybrouck. This book tells the story of how Indonesia fought for its freedom from the Dutch and how that fight inspired other countries around the world to do the same. The author used many interviews with people who were actually there to show what the revolution felt like for those who lived through it.

As a follow-up, I also recommend The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins. This book acts as a "sequel" that explains how the US government used mass killings in 1965 Indonesia to destroy communist movements. It shows how this violent "blueprint" was then used across the globe to stop left-wing groups during the Cold War.

​​In addition to history, as someone who studied architecture, I also want to recommend these two books about architecture in Indonesia:

The Living House: An Anthropology of Architecture in South-East Asia by Roxana Waterson

Tropicality: Houses by Andra Matin
by Andra Matin and David Hutama

So, if you are traveling in Malang and looking for a bookstore selling high-quality English books and magazines, Periplus is the answer. And these books won't just tell you facts; they will help you understand the soul of the country you are visiting.

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