Super Short Summary

Max Havelaar: Or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company by Multatuli (Eduard Douwes Dekker) follows Batavus Droogstoppel, a coffee broker, who hires an employee, Stern, to write a book about coffee auctions. Instead, Stern writes about Max Havelaar, an idealistic Dutch civil servant in Java who fights against colonial corruption and advocates for the welfare of the locals, challenging the unjust Dutch colonial policies.