What had happened to my beautiful boy? To our family? What did I do wrong? Those are the wrenching questions that haunted David Sheff’s journey through his son Nic’s addiction to drugs and tentative steps toward recovery.

Before Nic became addicted to crystal meth, he was a charming boy, joyous and funny, a varsity athlete and honor student adored by his two younger siblings. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who lied, stole, and lived on the streets.

David Sheff traces the first warning signs: the denial, the three a.m. phone calls—is it Nic? the police? the hospital? His preoccupation with Nic became an addiction in itself. But as a journalist, he instinctively researched every treatment that might save his son. And he refused to give up on Nic.

Jejak Langkah is not just a historical novel meant to fill an episode of a nation at a critical juncture, but also aims to address the lack of literature exploring this complex period. This novel offers an alternative reading for us to view the path and waves of history from different perspectives.

The tetralogy is divided into four books, representing different periods of movement. This third novel, Jejak Langkah, is the phase of organizing resistance. Minke mobilizes all efforts to fight against the long-standing power of the Indies. However, Minke chooses not armed resistance but the path of journalism, creating as much Indigenous reading material as possible. The most famous of these is Medan Prijaji.

Through this newspaper, Minke calls upon the Indigenous people to do three things: increase boycotts, organize, and abolish feudalistic culture. Simultaneously, through journalistic steps, Minke calls out: "Educate the people with organization and educate the rulers with resistance."