When it comes to colonialism, I’ve come to a point where I’m pretty much only interested in hearing from the colonized people’s perspective. This book is about the Indonesian Banda islands and their tragic and bloody downfall over nutmeg. Two Indonesian journalists travel to the islands and wander around, visiting sites, taking pictures and listening to locals. The combination of text and photography marries the past with the present in a lovely effective way. It’s a format that reminds me a bit of the great W.G. Sebald. There’s a refreshing lack of agenda here, just empathy for the islands and their story.