Max Havelaar or The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company (Penguin Classics)

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.