America's Boy: A Century of Colonialism in the Philippines

Abstract

The Philippine War, 1899–1902. By Brian McAllister Linn. (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2000. xiv, 427 pp. $39.95, ISBN 0-7006-0990-3.) Although these two studies both examine aspects of United States imperialism in the Philippines, they have little else in common. America's Boy is based on the author's eventeen -year residence in the Philippines, “conversations” with Imelda Marcos and thirteen of her contemporaries, the letters of the British ambassador to the Philippines in the 1960s, and selected secondary sources. Discursive, frequently speculative, and fond of spectacle, James Hamilton-Paterson employs a fabricated provincial village based on existing communities as a vehicle for making “sweeping generalizations” about the rural provinces and their relationship to the Marcos regime. Some readers may be uncomfortable with this historical methodology, but Hamil-ton-Paterson's feel for the Filipino perspective constitutes the book's principal strength. In addition, he provides a lively narrative for the general reader. Prompted by his sense that ordinary Filipinos missed the Marcoses, the author seeks to reexamine their rule against the backdrop of U.S. influence and within the context of Philippine social and political practices. He argues that Spanish, American, and Japanese imperialism produced a confused and dysfunctional Philippine society and polity. Personal and family relations counted for far more than issues of party ideology; all politics was conducted in cash; everything was negotiable; and pageant trumped substance. Much of Philippine politics was a family squabble among the elite, and American backing or acquiescence was essential for any aspiring post–World War II Filipino leader.