A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902

by David J. Silbey

First-rate military history, A War of Frontier and Empire retells an often forgotten chapter in America's past, infusing it with commanding contemporary relevance.

It has been termed an insurgency, a revolution, a guerrilla war, and a conventional war. As David J. Silbey demonstrates in this taut, compelling history, the 1899 Philippine-American War was in fact all of these. Played out over three distinct conflicts―one fought between the Spanish and the allied United States and Filipino forces; one fought between the United States and the Philippine Army of Liberation; and one fought between occupying American troops and an insurgent alliance of often divided Filipinos―the war marked America's first steps as a global power and produced a wealth of lessons learned and forgotten.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction, Military History, War, Asia, American

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

David J. Silbey teaches at Cornell University’s Washington, D.C., campus.

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exceptionally well researched and written history book. Very nice to see this obscure and forgotten conflict see the treatment it deserves. Very recommended

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know so little about this era in the Philippines that this book gave me some acquaintance with the issues and events.

Early on I noted two items that caused me to read with skepticism. On p. 27 it says that the Queen (Lili'oukalani) of Hawaii was deposed in 1883, but as of this time she had not yet ascended to the throne. On p.17 it says that the US Civil War "devastated large areas of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia and the Carolinas" and I wonder about the inclusion of Pennsylvania on such a list. I checked other Amazon reviews and saw that one poster documented a number of other problems.

This is a very readable history. I did not come away any memory of facts of dates, places, battles, names, but did get from the interesting presentation a reasonably credible framework for acquiring more knowledge about the Philippines and its history.

For the size of the book, there are a good number of very interesting photographs.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of a war I knew almost nothing about. I learned enough to fill in some gaps of my understanding of the history of American imperialism and this alone makes the book worth a look. Since I know little about the subject I'm not sure how accurate it's history is or how well it would stand up to scrutiny but I'm sure the outlines are correct and that is all I would ask of a book of this length.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A war of Frontier and Empire by David Silbey looks at the Spanish American war in the Philippines and then the insurgency that followed. It is a high level overview on an area where scholarship is thin. The does a good job of talking both the cultural and political situation in the Philippines as well as the military history. The rise of Arthur McArthur and Taft is discussed in this book. It is meant to be of a high level and does not go into too many political details about US policy at the time. For those looking for a quick overview this is a great book.

[Lauren Hiebner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silbey’s book on the Philippine - American War, 1899 - 1902 basically suggests that this was the last of the “frontier” wars and the first imperialistic action by the US. He points out that the Philippines were not a united people or a nation until this war. “America helped the Philippines become a nation by violence, education, blood and words.” The war in the Philippines had three phases: first a war between the Spanish and the allied US - Filipino forces, second a conventional war between the US versus the Army of Liberation of the Philippine Republic, and third guerrilla warfare between the US and remnants of the Army of Liberation and others. It was in this third phase that most atrocities occurred on both sides. While diseases killed many on both sides, the Filipinos suffered the worst as they were forced into camps of concentration. Many in the US saw this war as a continuation of the frontier wars against Indians and thus treated the Filipinos just as poorly. Finally, as the military aspect wore down the civilian phase began as repatriated Filipinos became involved in government mostly on the local level. This helped with eventual transition to an all civilian government and eventual independence. Silbey also explains how the Philippine War impacted US presidential elections. Filipinos had hoped Bryan would win over McKinley and that the war would come to a quick end. Not only did McKinley win but after his assassination, Theodore Roosevelt came into power also with imperialistic views. The author also makes numerous comparisons with guerrilla fighting in the Philippines and later in the Vietnam War. The Philippines ended up being America’s first colony which was on track to gain independence in1940 but was delayed due to WWII. An insightful read.

[Ethan Rudd · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short, painless, readable overview of the Philippine-American War. Silbey’s book serves as a very good primer for the reader who is unfamiliar to the conflict. The author does a good job capturing the political, military, and social causes and consequences of the war and reflects on the nature of combat in the war. Silbey contrasts the early conventional war with that of the insurgency later in the war. Interestingly, one can draw several modern connections between the type of warfare experienced by soldiers in this conflict and the debate over intervention and anti-imperialism with modern history. I can only say that at times I found myself wanting more and more of the first-person accounts sprinkled throughout the story and more about day-to-day life and politics in the Philippines, though the book is purposefully limited in scope to the actual conflict itself.

[grace choi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another read for school & research purposes!

I knew nothing of the Philippine-American War in detail before this book, and it did an overall skim of the events leading up to the war, the major historical actors, and how the war impacted both the Filipinos and Americans. I also had no idea that the war had been seen as a "victory" to the Filipinos in some sense, and how the Americans also worked with the Filipinos post-war to frame governments and education systems in the Philippines, so I was intrigued by this newfound perspective that Silbey offered through this work.

[Derrick Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Silbey's book is a good entry into the Philippine War and follows the path laid out by Brian Linn in his works on the war. This work serves as an overview of the conflict, and an introduction for those unfamiliar with this little known. As a modern review of the conflict, it takes a more nuanced and balanced view of the war than many past authors who have used this conflict as a political parable rather than a historical event.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are so few general histories of the Philippine Insurrection. This one is probably the best entry-point but it does leave some questions unanswered. The author treats wartime atrocities pretty quickly and only offhandedly mentions the US camps for Filipinos. Perhaps there wasn’t enough time to explore and really analyze what was happening in the war in such a general history, but it definitely leaves reader with some topics to explore further.

[Addie Nolley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really thorough treatment of the Philippine-American War. I stayed engaged through most of the book, but the last 2 or 3 chapters were packed with unnecessary details that made it hard to finish. Silbey tends to get bogged down in numbers, statistics, and minutiae of battles that take away from the narrative he writes in A War of Frontier and Empire.

[Paul A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readable, if light on detail and justification for some of its broader conclusions. Still, the author makes very interesting points regarding the Philippine-American war's proper framing in a historical context.

[Kaelle :) · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was relatively painless, but this author did not use any Filipino sources, and also struck a weird tone at the end to how the Philippines “ultimately benefitted” from US colonization and occupation.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief but detailed look at conflict

This was an excellent overview of the war between the US and the Phillipines. I only wish the author had done a deeper dive! It's a quick but fascinating read.

[Dan McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good history of the conflict!

[Dave N · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent survey of the conflict - whether you prefer to call it an insurgency, a war, or both. In fact, the author spends quite a bit of time debating how best to classify things, which is important when trying to put things in the proper historical context, but for someone just trying to understand the actual events, this philosophical discussion quickly became boring. What's more, the details contained in the book feel irregular and unbalanced. Sometimes incidents are laid out in vivid detail and other times what seem like important facts are glossed over or barely mentioned. I would have loved to have read more about the actual day-to-day activities of the provisional government, but perhaps Silbey's focus on the military aspect was purposeful so as to avoid including everything. He does provide a good reading list at the end to help those, like me, who would have preferred something more in depth.

[Chloe Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was doing a research project on the Philippines and having an incredibly hard time finding a source that would give me the whole story of the Philippines in one place rather than a brief overview or a detailed account of one minor part. This book saved me and gave me the basic understanding I needed in order to dive deeper into other sources and aspects of the war. Overall a pretty basic but valuable book.

[Jeff C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

In all fairness, this poor review is a reflection on the Barnes & Noble Nook Book version of this book and not the author's work. I enjoyed reading the first part of the book but text errors made the remainder of the book virtually unreadable. B&N customer service was very poor and the problem could not be resolved. I reluctantly had to give up.

[Steven May · Rating 4 out of 5]

The war between Philippines and America was discussed in a class on Imperialism. Talking with others no one was familiar with the war. Silbey helped me understand this part of our American history. After the Vietnam failure it was good to learn of this successful involvement in the development of the Philippine nation.

[Constantine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Americans are totally clueless about this war which is a shame. It's the only war against insurgents we've won and the only time we've prosecuted one of our own generals for war crimes. It has many, many lessons for today's world.

[Katie Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about the Spanish-American/Philippine-American War (depends on what you like to call it). I did feel at times like he was being a little "soft" on the Americans . . . Not too much, just a tad. But it bothered me.

Other than that, very well-done.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good basic introduction to the war of which there are not many books for laypeople.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

DFS's war

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

concise but relatively comprehensive of the US war against Filipino nationalists after the Spanish-(North) American war.

[Edgar Raines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silbey's A War of Frontier and Empire provides a very useful introduction to the Philippine-American War. For a more complete analysis see my review at http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev....