In this authorized biography, much of it based on unique first-hand observation, Greg Barton introduces us to Indonesia's first democratically elected president and his world and attempts to make sense of his controversial public career and presidency. Barton has known Abdurrahman Wahid since 1988, when he started researching the influence of Islamic liberalism in Indonesia, and subsequently spent many months with his subject, including seven months during Wahid's twenty-one-month presidency, both in Indonesia and travelling with him abroad.