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Noli Me Tangere
by Jose Rizal
I just saw the movie Jose Rizal directed by Marilou Diaz-Abaya and I was floored. It was such a beautifully crafted movie weaving history,
fantasy and fiction from Rizal's novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. So I immediately went to amazon.com to check if they
have Rizal's novels. I am in luck. It has the Noli, both in Spanish and translated editions. So I have the book right now and re-reading it, more than
twenty five
years after I have read it first. It is still a powerful book - and every Filipino or Filipino American who is worth his/her salt should have a go at it.
After reading this, I would like to try reading it in Spanish too.
English Noli Me Tangere: Ordering Information
Spanish Edition: Ordering Information
 America's Boy - A Century of Colonialism in the Philippines by James Hamilton-Paterson.
I just received this book from a friend of mine from New York, Claudia Dreifus, the celebrated interviewer (see Interview).
I haven't read it yet but look at the praises the book has garnered so far:
America's Boy is brimful of beautifully transparent prose, vignettes of Filipino village life mingling with intensely personal
reflections and insight ... This book is a real glory; nothing more can usefully be said about the
Philippines; it's all here, and wonderully." - Ian Thompson, the Guardian (London)
Order America's Boy now!
"Transfixingly readable ... This book is written with elegant irony; but its author, who (has) lived
in a remote Philippines village for many years, has so great an affection to this country and understands
it so well that he refuses to arrive at glib judgements.' - Gerald Kaufman, Daily Telegraph (London)
Order America's Boy now!
A wonderfully various book ... For a star, (Hamilton-Paterson) knows the Philippines and the people who
inhabit its variegated archipelago. Better still, he understands the political and historical background ...
He is a true moderator, anxious to find the truth by allowing the protagonists to speak for themselves
yet able to sit back and to add his own commentary ... His frankness cannot disguise a steely determination
to get as close to his subject as any biographer might dare. Just as importantly, he has managed to escape
form the experience unsinged."
Order America's Boy now!
 The Umbrella Country by Bino A. Realuyo.
Here's a book that's getting a lot of notice,
not only from the mainstream press, but from Filipino readers as well. This is really great. I found it in the local Borders here
in Chicago and read it in one sitting while on the bus going home from work. Not because it was an easy read, but because I was
just mesmerized by the story that Bino Realuyo has woven and the characters that he has invented. The
book is about the coming of age of a Pinoy boy named Gringo ... his story told very simply and magically in
a very familiar style. It's more than that though ... it's also a lesson in recent
Philippine history - the story is set during the Martial Law period when there was curfew and
Miss Universe was held in Manila. It is definitely not a stroll down memory lane for me because
it awakened a lot of hurtful memories about that period - but at the same time, I sometimes
chuckled while reading certain passages because of the nuances of truth that the story offered.
I am very excited about this book and I hope you will be too.
Order The Umbrella Country now!
Here's some official blurb which was sent to me by the author:
THE UMBRELLA COUNTRY, by BINO A. REALUYO
A Ballantine Reader's Circle Selection
A Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, Spring 1999
Early Reviews:
"A lyrical first novel limns a troubled coming-of-age in 1970s Manila, where
deviance and difference are punished by silence or brutality . . . An
evocative and subtly different take on the loss of innocence. A PROMISING
DEBUT." -
Kirkus Reviews
"Bino A. Realuyo proves that the telling of a novelist's heart and country is
contained in the smallest movement of moments. Word upon lyrical word, his
novel is beauty that dwells like a beloved's lingering ache, a beloved's
familiar voice. Realuyo's song page after page."
- Lois-Ann Yamanaka
author of Blu's Hanging
"A wrenching first novel filled with the sights, sounds and smells of Manila
under martial law." -
Booklist
"Heartbreaking . . . Poet Realuyo assembles a powerful array of characters for
this coming of age novel." -
Publishers Weekly
Ballantine Books adds a powerful new voice to the literary canon with the
publication of Bino A. Realuyo's THE UMBRELLA COUNTRY (March 10, 1999;
$12.95). This lyrical and poignant first novel is being released in a special
trade paperback edition. It features a reading group discussion guide in the
back of the book that includes an interview with the author.
Born and raised in Manila, Realuyo, a Filipino-American, now calls New York
City home. An award-winning poet, he recently edited The NuyorAsian
Anthology, a collection of Asian American writings about New York which will
also be released this spring.
With his debut novel, Realuyo delivers a lush, richly poetic novel of grinding
hardship and resilient triumph, of selfless sacrifice and searing revelation,
as he brings the teeming world of 1970s Manila brilliantly to life. This was
the most turbulent period in Philippine history, during the Martial Law years
when the whole country was shut down at midnight.
On the tumultuous streets of Manila, where the earth is as brown as tamarind
and the pungent smells of vinegar and mashed peppers fill the air, where the
seasons shift between scorching sun and torrential rain, eleven-year old
Gringo strives to make sense of his family and a world that is growing
increasingly harsher before his young eyes.
Other rich characters that infuse Realuyo's fiction include Gringo's older
brother Pipo, wise beyond his years, a flamboyant, defiant youth; Daddy
Groovie, who whiles away his days with other hang-around men, out of work and
wilting like a guava leaf, hoping to one day join his sister in Nuyork;
Gringo's mother Estrella, who moves through their ramshackle home, holding her
emotions as tight as a fist, which she clenches in anger after curfew covers
the neighborhood in a burst of dark and silence; and Ninang Rola, wise
godmother of words, who confides in Gringo a shocking secret from the past-and
sets the stage for the profound events to come.
Amid the climate of violence and the often strange nature of family bonds,
Gringo learns that shame is passed down through the generations, but so is the
life-changing power of blood ties and enduring love.
Mapping a young boy's awakening to adulthood in dazzling and often unexpected
ways, THE UMBRELLA COUNTRY subtly works sweet magic. Realuyo possesses a
dazzling voice and his fiction debut showcases a remarkable talent. His is a
voice that will (and should be) heard from again and again.
Order The Umbrella Country now!
ABOUT BINO A. REALUYO
Born and raised in Manila, Bino A. Realuyo studied International Relations in
the U.S. and South America. He is a recipient of the 1998 Lucille Medwick
Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America. A Pushcart Prize nominee,
Realuyo has been a guest lecturer for literature at Yale University. He has
also completed a poetry collection, In Spite of Open Eyes which was a finalist
for the 1998 National Poetry Series. Realuyo has recently edited The
NuyorAsian Anthology, a collection of Asian American Writings about New York
City. His poetry and fiction have been published widely in literary journals
and anthologies both in the U.S. and the Philippines, including The Kenyon
Review, Manoa, New Letters, The Literary Review and The Nation.
Order The Umbrella Country now!
Here's what other readers say:
From Alex Maskara, an up and coming Filipino author and novelist -
I finished the book in one sitting, couldn't help but go on reading till the
finish. It's the best book written by a Filipino I've read so far - no wonder
a major publisher published it. My friend who's staying with me says it's a
story that won't surprise him, he comes from Manila. But I, being a native of
Pampanga haven't heard of a story as 'different' as this one. The structure
itself is very unique, the words very precise, lyrical and poetic. Yet the
message they reveal cuts through like a knife, the story is being peeled
slowly, like onion, and like onion, it brings tears to the eyes. It's
generally painful, and I fear the reaction of the Filipino-as-a-father here,
much the same way how African-American fathers reacted to The Color Purple by
Walker when the novel and movie first appeared. Yet, even Daddy Groovie is
understandable - what can a macho Pinoy do when he loses his job and his
ability to provide? He has the potential to get drunk, beat his kids, call
Ninang Rola malas, and hold onto something like Stateside products as symbols
of hope for future immigration, the only way to escape his painful debility or
inadequacy. The story offers me the most painful parting in a family that I've
ever read. As Pipo starts wandering around the airport looking for his Mom,
and the younger Gringo leads and protects him, well, okay...I cried. I have to
admit that. The story is so good that I finished it in one sitting.
I m featuring the book in my web site. My copy is now in the hands of one of
my friends who took it from me by force. Ang Pinoy nga naman oo:) As an
anecdote, I bought my copy from Barnes and Noble Ft. Lauderdale that sold the
book the earliest here, I think...Borders told me they'd have it by the middle
of the week.I requested Barnes and Noble to hold a copy for me and by the time
I came, I could not find a single copy in their shelves. Good thing they kept
my copy in the counter. Are you hot or what?
Order The Umbrella Country now!
From Allan Benamer, moderator of
the filipino arts list
Don't sleep on this one folks...
I was spending most of my time trying to hold my tears in while reading this
book. And for those of you who know me personally, you know how rare that
is...
I admit I had my reservations about this book -- another full-length novel
by a Filipino American set in the Philippines? And it's got an immigration
theme as well? I've seen enough of that in recent Asian American
literature... I was very pleasantly surprised then I was engrossed. The last
half of this novel is pretty badass - if you really want to see a good use
of the unreliable first-person narrative technique, dump Blu's Hanging for
this one. I really admire writers you can learn from -- there are entire
chapters in The Umbrella Country that should be taught in writing classes on
how to:
- Build up story detail with simple sentences
- Build up recollective themes with simple asides or seeming non-sequiturs
- Build up rhythm by alternating diction and sentence flow interchangeably.
- Use the unreliable first-person perspective to generate reader
participation by having the reader fill in details not accessible to the
narrator
- Using environmental details to fill in for interior monologue
I'm an aesthete - what can I say? I love the technique of writing and I love
writers who've mastered their technique. Mr. Realuyo throws sentences the
way Phil Niekro threw knuckleballs, a little bit of spit on the seam while
it zigzags its way towards its eventual target. I kept saying to myself,
"You go boy!", while I was reading the novel in the way one would praise a
dancer who was going off in a hip hop joint. So... enough already, just get
the novel.
Order The Umbrella Country now!
Mga Kuwentong Bayan - Folk Stories from the Philippines
Flippin; Filipinos on America
by Luis H. Francia (Editor), Eric Gamalinda (Editor)
For more new Philippine titles from Amazon, please click here
New from Made in the Philippines
Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People
Kasaysayan: the Story of the Filipino People
Pugad Baboy
Pugad Baboy
A First Look at ...
Books About Philippine Environment
The Philippines Rediscovered by Stuart Dee
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More New Titles!
- Balisong - The Lethal Art of Filipino Knife Fighting - by Sid Campbell
Ordering Information
- Beauty and Power: Transgendering and Cultural Transformation in Southern Philippines by Mark Johnson
Ordering Information
- "Dusk" - novel by the Philippines' most celebrated novelist - F. Sionil Jose.
Published by the Modern Libray, May 1998.
Ordering Information
The opening novel of the critically acclaimed "Rosales Saga", a triumphant cycle that
captures 100 years of tumultuous Philippine history and can be compared to Marquez's "One
Hundred Years of Solitude". Published in time for 1998's nationwide Philippines-USA
festival.
- "After the Bases : The Looting of the Philippines"
by
Donald Kirk
Subjects: Philippines; Politics and government; 1986-; Foreign
relations; United States; Contemporary Politics - Asia; U.S.
- Pacific Rim Relations; HISTORY-MILITARY/WAR; Military -
General
Publisher: St Martins Pr (Short)
Binding: Hardcover
Expected publication date: January 1, 1998
ISBN: 0312174233
Ordering Information
- "Christmas in the Philippines (Christmas Around the World)"
by
Cheryl L. Enderlein
Subjects: Christmas; Philippines; Juvenile literature; Christmas
decorations; Social life and customs
Publisher: Capstone Pr
Binding: Hardcover
Expected publication date: January 1998
ISBN: 1560656239
Ordering Information
- "Ferdinand Marcos and the Philippines : The Political Economy of
Authoritarianism"
by
Albert F. Celoza
Subjects: Authoritarianism; Philippines; Bureaucracy; Patronage,
Political; Politics and government; Public Bureaucracy;
Systems Of Government
Publisher: Praeger Pub Text
Binding: Hardcover
Expected publication date: February 1998
ISBN: 027594137X
Ordering Information
- "The Secrets of Giron Arnis Escrima"
by
Antonio E. Somera, Tony Somera
Subjects: Giron, Leo M.,; 1911-; Escrima; Martial arts; Philippines;
SPORTS & RECREATION; Martial Arts & Self-Defense
Publisher: Charles E Tuttle Co
Binding: Paperback
Expected publication date: March 1, 1998
ISBN: 0804831394
Ordering Information
- The Anti-Marcos Struggle : Personalistic Rule and
Democratic Transition in the Philippines
by Mark R. Thompson
Hardcover
Published by Yale Univ Pr
Publication date: January 1, 1996
Dimensions (in inches): 9.50 x 6.32 x .82
Ordering Information
- Battle for Batangas : A Philippine Province at War
by Glenn Anthony May
Hardcover, 382 pages
Published by Yale Univ Pr
Publication date: May 1, 1991
Dimensions (in inches): 9.56 x 6.44 x 1.39
Ordering Information.
- The Battle for Manila
by John Pimlott, Duncan Anderson, Richard Connaughton
Hardcover, 224 pages
Published by Presidio Pr
Publication date: September 1, 1995
Dimensions (in inches): 9.57 x 6.33 x .93
Ordering Information.
Reviews and Commentary for The Battle for Manila (from the Amazon.com website):
Book News, Inc., 02/01/96:
A detailed account of the liberation/destruction of Manila, Philippines,
in 1945, which left 6,500 American, 20,000 Japanese, and 200,000
Manila citizens dead and leveled the thriving, cosmopolitan city once
known as the pearl of the Orient. Contains b&w photos. Annotation
copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
jimh@worldaxes.com, 07/08/97, rating=5:
Impartial, hastily written history of a bloody urban battle
Experienced British military historians add little to existing accounts of
the greatest urban battle fought in the Pacific during WW II, judging
without evidence, with little original research, failing to utilize most
published sources and failing to realize the Japanese defenders had
been ordered by Imperial General HQ to fight to the death. My view
is based on extensive reading of those sources, talks with survivors
and my personal presence at the scene.
medals@cei.net, 01/26/97:
Excellent history.
The destruction of Manila was comparable in scale to that of
Warsaw, with hundreds of thousands killed (many savagely murdered
by the Japanese), yet it went largely unnoticed by a world focused on
Iwo Jima and the drama on the Rhine.
It is hoped the present work will help to rectify that neglect. The
authors have produced a thoroughly researched, highly readable
history which could serve as a model for other military historians.
With photos, bibliography, index, and excellent maps.
- Benevolent Assimilation : The American Conquest of
the Philippines, 1899-1903
by Stuart Creighton Miller
Reprint Edition
Paperback
Published by Yale Univ Pr
Publication date: February 1, 1984
Dimensions (in inches): 9.26 x 6.13 x 1.09
Ordering Information.
- Beyond Courage : One Regiment Against Japan,
1941-1945
by Dorothy Cave
Rev Edition
Paperback, 466 pages
Published by Yucca Tree Pr
Publication date: August 1, 1996
Dimensions (in inches): 8.99 x 6.03 x 1.40
Ordering Information.
Reviews and Commentary for Beyond Courage : One
Regiment Against Japan, 1941-1945 (from the Amazon.com website)
Amazon.com Books:
A vivid narrative of the men of New Mexico's 200th and 515th
Coast Artillery (AA) units. Cave skillfully tells a story of hardship,
bravery, unspeakable treatment, and a never-dying belief that their
country would liberate them. They were the first unit to fire on the
enemy in the Philippines and the last organized unit to lay down their
arms when surrender came. --This text refers to an out of print or
unavailable edition of this title.
The publisher, smatson@zianet.com, 02/01/97:
One regiment against Japan, 1941-1945
Their irrepressible spirit and unshakable faith that their coun-try
would liberate them, enabled them to survive........ "The men joined
the Army for adventure, fun, and a fewextra dollars. They found
themselves facing a Japanesejuggernaut with old weapons, too little
food, and only theiresprit de corps as a defense. BEYOND
COURAGE is a wrenching look at the small band of New Mexico
National Guardsmen of the 200th Coast Artillery Regiment, sent to
the Philippines just before WWII and captured there at the fall of
Bataan. Acknowledged in 1941 as the best antiaircraft regiment in the
Army, the 200th (and the battle-born 515th) fought theJapanese until
starvation forced the surrender of over70,000 Americans and
Filipinos. The New Mexicans were thelast organized resistance on
Bataan to face the Japanese.Little did the men know that the worst
was yet to come. From the Bataan Death March to the staggering
deathrates at the O'Donnell prisoner of war camp, the story of
the200th is told in unstinting, horrifying, believable detail. Dorothy
Cave's exhaustive original research gives thereader a personal,
first-hand account as the 200th and515th travel through the prisoner
of war camps of the Japan-ese empire. The shocking brutality of the
Japanese is exposed as arecurring, unrelieved, and barbaric way of
life. That any ofthe New Mexicans survived at all is a testament to
theirtoughness and comradery. The 200th "buried its own" as itleft the
Philippines on the hell ships, fighting to survive thedeath throes of
Japan's war maching. At every opportunity, using every wile
imaginable, thestarved, diseased men sabotaged Japanese work
projects and machinery. Throughout their imprisonment, they
sus-tained their faith in their country and in their ultimate deliver-ance.
American POWs from other units marveled at how"those damned
New Mexicans" looked out for each other,shrugging off Japanese
attempts to break unit cohesion." - - LTC John W
- Biggest Elvis
by P. F. Kluge
Hardcover
Published by Viking Pr
Publication date: August 1, 1996
Dimensions (in inches): 9.34 x 6.33 x 1.19
Ordering Information.
Reviews and Commentary for Biggest Elvis (from the Amazon.com website)
Amazon.com Books:
P. F. Kluge, author of The Edge of Paradise and a former Peace
Corps volunteer in the Pacific, has written a many-layered novel set in
the Philippines near the U.S. naval base of Subic Bay, in the debased
beer-and-sex-soaked district of Olongapo. This entertaining and
atmospheric story is also an oblique commentary on American
cultural imperialism and the consequences for Americans. His
protagonists are three guys who work together as Elvis impersonators
in Olongapo; one portrays the young hip Elvis, one the tired movie
idol, and the third the bloated caricature of his later years. These
three come to represent the stages of America's own progression
from lean innovator to overblown superpower. Inexorably, the local
inhabitants come to regard the biggest Elvis as their savior.
Literary Fiction Expert Editor's Recommended Book,
03/01/97:
Long ago I thought I reached the point where I never wanted to see
another ironic, literary or tabloid reference to Elvis Presley. Sure, his
music is great, but Elvis as icon has been done to death already. Or
so I thought until I read Biggest Elvis which uses Elvis as a
metaphor for the United States in compelling, well-rendered settings
of seedy U.S. outposts in South Pacific locales like the Philippines
and Guam.
From Kirkus Reviews, 06/01/96:
Kluge (Alma Mater, 1993; Eddie and the Cruisers, 1980, etc.) again
explores the mythical power of rock-'n'-roll. The ``magic'' of pop,
this workmanlike novel argues, is all about a special moment in time.
In this case, that moment occurs in 1990 in a sleazy town in the
Philippines where countless whorehouses and bars service the
Americans based at Subic Bay. There, three unlikely fellows join
together in an Elvis impersonation act that re-creates the three stages
of the King's career: ``from punk to hunk to bulk.'' Chester Lane
covers the early years, and he's a true innocent himself. When the trio
arrives at ``Graceland,'' the bar in Olongapo where they perform, he
resists the temptations of the flesh and falls for a Catholic
schoolteacher, the sister of the local radical priest, who would like to
see all American bases closed. Chester's brother, Albert, the middle
Elvis, is jaded and ambitious; he beds every b- girl in sight and hopes
to begin a career in cheap Asian action flicks. The late Elvis, or
``Biggest Elvis'' as he's called, is the oddest--an overweight former
English professor named Ward Wiggins, who's just been fired from
his job on Guam. Wiggins performs with a missionary zeal and
self-consciously sees the show as a deconstruction of the King's
career, right down to the tragic finale. Fancying their show as an
``incarnation,'' not an ``act,'' he becomes a local folk hero both to
servicemen and the peasants, and he taps into a transcendent power
in his ritualistic performance, attracting tourists to this grimy
backwater. But the show's success, both commercially and
inspirationally, threatens many of the powers that be, and the three
are sent on a Pacific Rim tour that fails to recapture the wonders of
the Graceland show. Biggest Elvis's Christlike persecution has a
happy ending, though, if not quite a resurrection. Overall, a likable
narrative that manages to transcend its pretentious commentary about
rock, religion, and American imperialism. -- Copyright ©1996,
Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
The New York Times Book Review, Sarah Ferguson:
[Kluge] writes lyrically whether he's describing the gaudy triumphs of
his Elvis trinity or the rushing hardships of life around the Subic Bay
naval base ... [a] dreamy melancholy tale of economic and
pop-cultural imperialism.
Synopsis:
A dozen years after the death of Elvis Presley in Memphis, a man
called the Biggest Elvis--the oldest and fattest of a trio of Presley
impersonators--galvanizes the sailors and bar girld around the huge
U.S. naval base in Olongapo, Philippines. Part mystery, part love
story, part mordant commentary on the waning og American power
worldwide, Biggest Elvis revives and re-envisions the life of
America's leading 20th-century folk hero.
Synopsis:
Part mystery, part love story, part mordant commentary on America's
waning presence worldwide, this hugely entertaining novel tells the
story of a trio of Elvis imperonators working at a club called
Graceland in Olongapo, Philippines. But there are some who think
that Biggest Elvis has to go, and Biggest Elvis himself senses that
something ominous is coming. Radio promos to coincide with the
20th anniversary of Elvis' death on August 16. --This text refers to
the paperback (reprint) edition of this title.
Customer Comments
gov.legis@saipan.com, 11/17/96, rating=8:
Funny, melancholy, fascinating
This is a hip, sad, funny, thoughtful, thoroughly well-written book
about the Philippines, America in decline, true love, girly bars, midlife
crises, capitalism at its most evil, colonialism in its final hour, and
Elvis. Set mostly in Olangapo in 1990, just before the U.S. navy
sailed away, it's (among other things) an unflinching look at what
happens when you can walk across a bridge from the First World to
the Third. The characters are real and fascinating, especially Ward
Wiggins, overweight, down-and-out, third-rate college professor
turned star performer, the "Biggest Elvis" of the title. Wiggins is a
dreamer and more than a bit of a loser, but he gets a piece of
something bigger than himself and he's determined not to let go. In a
world of whores and hustlers, where "nothing stays new and nobody
stays young", innocence and magic are put to the harshest of tests;
Wiggins is no innocent, but he truly believes in magic, and the book
lets us see why. I nicked a point or two for some unexplained
mysteries (Colonel Parker, Baby, the final tour) and an appropriate
but implausible dramatic climax. Overall, though, this was one of the
best books I've read this year. The publisher doesn't seem to be
pushing it real hard, which is a shame; "Biggest Elvis" is a minor
classic. By the way, I live in a part of the world where part of the
book is set, and can attest to the accuracy of the book's descriptions.
The nameless island hellhole of the last few chapters is the island of
Rota, in the Northern Marianas, and the book gives a dramatized but
not grossly inaccurate description of workers' conditions there five or
six years ago. Things have gotten better since then, somewhat.
- The Blue-Eyed Enemy : Japan Against the West in
Java and Luzon 1942-1945
by Theodore Friend
Hardcover, 325 pages
Published by Princeton Univ Pr
Publication date: June 1, 1988
Dimensions (in inches): 9.58 x 6.54 x 1.11
Ordering Information.
- Brown River, White Ocean : An Anthology of
Twentieth-Century Philippine Literature in English
by Luis Francia (Editor)
Paperback, 279 pages
Published by Rutgers Univ Pr
Publication date: August 1, 1993
Dimensions (in inches): 10.94 x 8.42 x .79
Ordering Information.
Reviews and Commentary for Brown River, White Ocean : An
Anthology of Twentieth-Century Philippine Literature in
English (from the Amazon.com website):
From Kirkus Reviews, 06/30/93:
English is often a primary literary language for Filipino writers--not
only for those in the Philippines but for those resident in the US; both
groups are included in this anthology of 31 stories and 108 poems
documenting a tradition that began at the turn-of-the-century.
Manila-born poet and writer Francia, an editor at the Village Voice,
gathers and validates creative work that has had limited distribution
not only here but in Asia. ``In the Philippine context, what is foreign
and what is indigenous has always been a tricky and ultimately
impossible subject,'' Francia writes in his introduction. ``Filipinos have
unconsciously perfected the art of mixing the two up....'' Readers who
expect Filipino English to have the unexpected inflections and
inventiveness of Indian or Caribbean English will be disappointed: the
Filipino writer uses standard American English as a native language,
but spices it naturally with words form indigenous and adopted
tongues: Tagalog, Spanish, Ilokano, etc. Stories look at unrequited
passion (in which the sensual tropical ambiance is at odds with
society's rules); village life; the different cultures that have settled in
the archipelago--Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Hindu Indian; and the
consequences of military, colonial, and economic occupation. Both
poems and stories consider the experience of Filipinos--some
intellectual, some humble--in the US. Among the more familiar
contributors: Carlos Bulosan, JosĒ Garc°a Villa, Jessica Hagedorn,
and Ninotchka Rosca. While the prose selected here is more
consistent in quality than the poetry, the poems seem more
wide-ranging; like the fiction writers, the poets consider love, politics,
and metaphysics but move as well into experimentation and the
modernist realm. A satisfying and worthwhile project. -- Copyright
©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text
refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- Caged Dragons : An American Pow in WW II Japan
by Robert E. Haney
Hardcover, 282 pages
Published by Momentum Books Ltd
Publication date: July 1, 1991
Dimensions (in inches): 9.34 x 6.27 x 1.08
Ordering Information.
Reviews and Commentary for Caged Dragons : An American
Pow in WWII Japan (from Amazon.com website):
Amazon.com Books:
A true story about the dragons of war--the fire-breathing creatures
that came home with all who survived the POW camps.
- A Changeless Land : Continuity and Change in
Philippine Politics
by David G. Timberman
Paperback, 433 pages
Published by M E Sharpe
Publication date: April 1997
Dimensions (in inches): 9 x 5.99 x .93
Ordering Information.
- Children of the Philippines (World's Children)
by Sheila Kinkade, Elaine Little (Illustrator)
Library Binding
Published by Carolrhoda Books
Publication date: July 1, 1996
Dimensions (in inches): 8.55 x 10.53 x .38
Ordering Information.
- Corazon Aquino (World Leaders Past and Present,
Series Ii)
by Howard Chua-Eoan, Eoan Howard Chua
Library Binding, 111 pages
Published by Chelsea House Pub (Library)
Publication date: May 1988
Ordering Information.
- Corazon Aquino : Journey to Power
by Laurie Nadel
Library Binding, 127 pages
Published by Julian Messner
Publication date: September 1, 1987
Dimensions (in inches): 8.57 x 5.78 x .57
Ordering Information.
- Cory : Profile of a President
by Isabelo T. Crisostomo
Hardcover, 323 pages
Published by Branden Pub Co
Publication date: 1, 1990
Dimensions (in inches): 9.33 x 6.38 x 1.17
Ordering Information.
- Philippines Handbook
by Peter Harper, Laurie Fullerton
2nd Edition
Paperback
Published by Moon Pubns
Publication date: July 1994
Dimensions (in inches): 7.33 x 5.13 x 1.26
Ordering Information.
Reviews and Commentary for Philippines Handbook (from the Amazon.com website):
The publisher, Moon Travel Handbooks
02/05/97:
Synopsis
Stunning rice terraces, dazzling beaches, perfect volcano cones, and
hushed rainforests make the Philippines a traveler's tropical fantasy
come true. Over 90 detailed maps and extensive logistical information
guide you through the over 7,000 islands full of dizzying landscapes
and sensual delights. Peter Harper and Laurie Fullerton have
combined years of research to lead you on unforgettable journeys
while providing you with a deeper understanding of this friendly
nation.
- People Power : An Eyewitness History : The
Philippine Revolution of 1986
by Monina Allarey Mercado (Editor)
Paperback
Published by Writers & Readers
Publication date: September 1987
Dimensions (in inches): 11.01 x 8.52 x .75
Ordering Information
- Memoirs of a Barbed Wire Surgeon
by Elmer, MD Shabart
Paperback, 180 pages
Published by Regent Pr
Publication date: March 1, 1997
Dimensions (in inches): 8.35 x 5.35 x .55
Ordering Information.
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