Max Havelaar, Or, the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company

One of the most forceful indictments of colonialism ever written, MAX HAVELAAR `sent a shiver` through the Dutch nation when it was first published in 1860 and, even after 120 years, it is still capable of arousing strong emotions. It tells the story of a young civil servant in the colonial administration who, in 1856, clashed head-on with his government when he tried to force them to recognize the barbarity and corruption rife in the Dutch colony of Java.Yet MAX HAVELAAR is more than a polemical tract or autobiographical novel. Its innovative style, superb characterization and, above all, its vitality and pungent satire make it a powerful literary work in its own right. As D.H. Lawrence wrote of it, `The great dynamic force in and Gogol and in Mark Twain, hate, a passionate honorable hate...` Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.