Unlike other conventional histories, the unifying thread of A History of the Philippines is the struggle of the peoples themselves against various forms of oppression, from Spanish conquest and colonization to U.S. imperialism. Constantino provides a penetrating analysis of the productive relations and class structure in the Philippines, and how these have shaped―and been shaped by―the role of the Filipino people in the making of their own history. Additionally, he challenges the dominant views of Spanish and U.S. historians by exposing the myths and prejudices propagated in their work, and, in doing so, makes a major breakthrough toward intellectual decolonization. This book is an indispensible key to the history of conquest and resistance in the Philippine.

The story of this nation of over seven thousand islands, from ancient Malay settlements to Spanish colonization, the American occupation, and beyond. A History of the Philippines recasts various Philippine narratives with an eye for the layers of colonial and post-colonial history that have created this diverse and fascinating population. It begins with the pre-Westernized Philippines in the sixteenth century and continues through the 1899 Philippine-American War and the nation's relationship with the United States’ controlling presence, culminating with its independence in 1946 and two ongoing insurgencies, one Islamic and one Communist. Award-winning author Luis H. Francia creates an illuminating portrait that offers valuable insights into the heart and soul of the modern Filipino, laying bare the multicultural, multiracial society of contemporary times.

In this wide-ranging cultural and political history of Filipinos and the Philippines, Vicente L. Rafael examines the period from the onset of U.S. colonialism in 1898 to the emergence of a Filipino diaspora in the 1990s. Self-consciously adopting the essay form as a method with which to disrupt epic conceptions of Filipino history, Rafael treats in a condensed and concise manner clusters of historical detail and reflections that do not easily fit into a larger whole. White Love and Other Events in Filipino History is thus a view of nationalism as an unstable production, as Rafael reveals how, under what circumstances, and with what effects the concept of the nation has been produced and deployed in the Philippines. With a focus on the contradictions and ironies that suffuse Filipino history, Rafael delineates the multiple ways that colonialism has both inhabited and enabled the nationalist discourse of the present. His topics range from the colonial census of 1903-1905, in which a racialized imperial order imposed by the United States came into contact with an emergent revolutionary nationalism, to the pleasures and anxieties of nationalist identification as evinced in the rise of the Marcos regime. Other essays examine aspects of colonial domesticity through the writings of white women during the first decade of U.S. rule; the uses of photography in ethnology, war, and portraiture; the circulation of rumor during the Japanese occupation of Manila; the reproduction of a hierarchy of languages in popular culture; and the spectral presence of diasporic Filipino communities within the nation-state. A critique of both U.S. imperialism and Filipino nationalism, White Love and Other Events in Filipino History creates a sense of epistemological vertigo in the face of former attempts to comprehend and master Filipino identity. This volume should become a valuable work for those interested in Southeast Asian studies, Asian-American studies, postcolonial studies, and cultural studies.

Preface. A Summary of the Book The history that is about to be written, will be written from the perspective of one who at the time of writing is already 93 years of age and who participated in a big way in the history of the times he lived in, who had a maternal grandfather who was also involved in the history of the previous 70 years, who read one book every day from the age of 10 to the age of 80, who lived the lives and absorbed the thoughts of the authors of 25,500 books he read, and who had a beloved teacher in history, the famous Jesuit Father Horacio de la Costa of Ateneo, who began his lectures with "What I am about to tell you is the chismis (gossip) of a nation aborning." From the perspective of the author, Filipino people from the time they were "discovered" by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, mercifully fell asleep, two oceans away from Mother Spain, were spared the violence of war, the plagues. and the ferment of change that the whole continent of Europe was blighted with, and lived lives so much better than the peasants of the advanced countries. It was only in the late 19th century after the opening of the Suez Canal, that the Filipinos woke up, awakened by three heroes: Jose Rizal who inspired them to be a nation, Andres Bonifacio who inspired them to fight for their freedom, and Emilio Aguinaldo who took on two great powers -- Spain which he defeated and the United States which defeated him - and in the process, forged a nation for four glorious years from 1898 to 1902, gave it a flag, an anthem and a constitution, and made it the first in all Asia to break the shackles of Western Colonialism and the first democracy in all of Asia, the last of the Hispanic colonies and the first Asian country to be liberated, as the children of the French Revolution. From the perspective of the author, the American occupation of the Philippines, accomplished with much cruelty in the Philippine American War, and so shamefully with the Treaty of Paris, by which the United States paid Spain $20 million for the Philippines, which Spain no longer owned - was marked by the understanding that the United States would prepare the Filipinos for independence, a pledge that was incorporated in a remarkable document drafted by the US Secretary of War Elihu Root, giving the defeated country, the entire Bill of Rights gratis et amore, something the Anglo-Saxons earned for 647 years at the cost of so much blood and the hangman's knot. The only counterpoint to Elihu Root was the Military Governor General Arthur MacArthur who acted like he was William the Conqueror and dealt with Filipinos as if he was King of the Philippines. Nevertheless, the United States fulfilled its pledge. And the American Occupation was dominated by one leader, Manuel L. Quezon, president of the Philippine Commonwealth, who steered his country to "total, absolute and complete independence" or so he thought. Interrupted by the Japanese attack and occupation during World War II, in a war as cruel and devastating as the Philippine-American War from 1898 to 1902, President Quezon died in exile in the United States. General Douglas MacArthur, the son of General Arthur MacArthur, fulfilled his personal pledge to liberate the Philippines at the cost of 100,000 Filipino lives, despite the fact that his role was unnecessary, that the USA was about to win the War with the Atomic Bomb. ------------ About the Author+ + + Dr. Hilarion M. Henares Jr., known as Larry Henares, is a graduate of Ateneo de Manila, University of the Philippines, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an engineer, economist, educator, big businessman, writer, civic leader, public servant, and hobbyist (guns, books, amateur radio and electronics). He is a film maker who won the Famas Academy Award for the Best Documentary of the Year. He was a businessman who was awarded Young Businessman of the Year, and the Industrialist (more inside)

Written with high school and undergraduate students as the target audience, this volume is ideal for anyone interested in Philippine history. It pieces together evidence from the precolonial era, illustrating the country's relationship with its neighboring Asian countries, its functioning social system, its widespread literacy, and developed system of writing. Its discussion of the precolonial era acknowledges the significant role women played in Philippine society, one that changed significantly with the coming of the friars. Its summary of over 350 years of colonial rule by Spain and almost 50 years by the United States helps the reader to understand why the Philippines is uniquely different from its Asian neighbors. It illustrates how Filipinos responded to colonialization, their active participation in the making of the nation and the shaping of Philippine society, and most importantly, the courage and resiliency of the Filipino people.