This book is one of the most important books of Dutch
literature. The writer combines humour, emotion and facts. The
book has a complex structure, without making it difficult to
read, an outspoken view, but also more subtle jokes (at least in
the Dutch language, and for people aware of Dutch culture), a
perceptive view on the way the institutions in the Dutch East
Indies worked to promote the corruption and the exploitation of
the people. All these things make the book an enjoyment to read.
The writer, however, isn't trying to make an objective
unemotional description of the events in the East Indies, but he
is arguing - making a treatise - for a different/better
treatment of the people in the Indonesia, basing his treatise on
facts and emotions (he stresses the parts which are undisputed
facts in a very natural way). For this he uses al his (well
developed) rhetorical abilities. To give some examples of his
rhetorical abilities and the working of the structure: - at some
point in the book he argues against p