"An excellent synthetic overview of modern Indonesian economic history" --dannyreviews.com

"A good introduction to Indonesia's modern economic history aimed at the general reader and suitable for undergraduate courses in Asian (economic) history" --International Journal of Maritime History, December 2003

"Fascinating ... at the same time both stimulating and, unfortunately for Indonesia, depressing" --Itinerario 26 (2002)

"This is an excellent review of Indonesian economic history and belongs on the shelf of all scholars interested in Asia.... The bibliography of nearly thirty pages is alone worth the price of the book." --Journal of Asian Business 18 (2002)

At the beginning of a new century and amidst the turmoil of a new democracy, we need more than ever a historical perspective on modern Indonesia. This economic history connects Soeharto's New Order (1966-1998) back to the colonial era and helps to explain why the transition from colonialism to independence and from New Order to democracy has been difficult and sometimes traumatic.

The Emergence of a National Economy identifies three themes in this transformation: globalization, state formation, and economic integration. These themes link chronological chapters from the pre-1800 period to the breakdown of the colonial system after 1930, the birth of modern Indonesia, the New Order, and the Asian crisis of the 1990s.

Howard Dick, Vincent Houben, Thomas Lindblad, and Thee Kian Wie have each published widely in the field of Indonesian economic and social history.