A pompous Amsterdam coffee broker, Batavus Droogstoppel, agrees to publish a bundle of papers left by an old schoolfellow. They tell of Max Havelaar, a Dutch assistant resident in Java who tries to stop the native regent’s extortions from the peasants and is crushed by his own government. Eduard Douwes Dekker drew the story from his own service in the Indies.
The book that shook the Netherlands’ conscience about its empire, and a sharp satire as well as an indictment. Download the free EPUB.