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The Philippines: What Everyone Needs to Know
Since the colonization of the Philippines by Spain in the sixteenth century, the island archipelago has been at the center of global trade flows. And from its status as the main base of Spain's Pacific galleon trade to its conquest centuries later by late-arriving imperial powers like the United States and Japan, it has been a focal point of economic and military rivalry too. Decolonized in 1946, this enormously diverse country is ruled today by a classic modern authoritarian, Rodrigo Duterte, and is embroiled in a series of as-of-yet minor disputes with the East Asia region's rising superpower, China. As it has globalized, its population has migrated across the world too, and Filipino now comprise the second-largest population of Asian-Americans in the United States.
In The What Everyone Needs to Know® , Steven Rood draws from more than 30 years of residence in and study of the Philippines in order to provide a concise overview of the nation. Arranged in a question-and-answer format, this guide shares concise, nuanced analysis and helps readers find exactly what they seek to learn about Filipino geography and geology, history, culture, economy, politics through the ages, and prospects for the future. This book is an ideal primer on an enormously diverse country that has been and will likely remain a key site in world affairs.
In The What Everyone Needs to Know® , Steven Rood draws from more than 30 years of residence in and study of the Philippines in order to provide a concise overview of the nation. Arranged in a question-and-answer format, this guide shares concise, nuanced analysis and helps readers find exactly what they seek to learn about Filipino geography and geology, history, culture, economy, politics through the ages, and prospects for the future. This book is an ideal primer on an enormously diverse country that has been and will likely remain a key site in world affairs.
272 pages, Paperback
Published October 8, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 7, 2019
Un buen libro que ayuda a entender muchos temas de Filipinas.
October 15, 2023
Steven Rood has a way with words. Right in the middle of writing about the recent elections, he puts in a fun analogy. So it is an easy book to read, as Country Biographies go. The Philippines--Rood told me everything I need to know. Thanks!
June 19, 2022
A great starting point to know more about the many facets and complications of Philippine history, geography, politics, economics, foreign relation, military and culture ect…
It is broken down into several parts according to the topics stated above and further broken into liberal styled articles on each topic with a question styled heading. This makes it easy to find areas of interests to read and acquire a surface and general understanding.
I read ‘Making of the Modern Philippines: Pieces of a Jigsaw State by Philip Bowering, published earlier in the month (June, 2022) before this and it is similar. However, Steven Rodd’s differs as this book is a collage of articles, while Bowering’s book seems to have different purpose which is to set forth an undertone of predictions and definitive conclusion on topics because of the puzzled nature of Philippines.
Nonetheless, both books more or less cover the same topics and you can derive the same conclusions/ messages. It is ignorant to say that the Philippines is unique because of its history and socioeconomics as this generalised description can be applied to every other nation, but the malignant spread of religion, political ideas, colonialism, differing identity and peoples in an archipelago (with also controversial claims on territory) makes such books a good starting point.
It is broken down into several parts according to the topics stated above and further broken into liberal styled articles on each topic with a question styled heading. This makes it easy to find areas of interests to read and acquire a surface and general understanding.
I read ‘Making of the Modern Philippines: Pieces of a Jigsaw State by Philip Bowering, published earlier in the month (June, 2022) before this and it is similar. However, Steven Rodd’s differs as this book is a collage of articles, while Bowering’s book seems to have different purpose which is to set forth an undertone of predictions and definitive conclusion on topics because of the puzzled nature of Philippines.
Nonetheless, both books more or less cover the same topics and you can derive the same conclusions/ messages. It is ignorant to say that the Philippines is unique because of its history and socioeconomics as this generalised description can be applied to every other nation, but the malignant spread of religion, political ideas, colonialism, differing identity and peoples in an archipelago (with also controversial claims on territory) makes such books a good starting point.
January 31, 2021
An excellent, highly readable introduction to the Philippines. Scholarship on the Philippines is more limited than on other Southeast Asian countries, and there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about the past, even the recent past. A wide-ranging, modern and thoughtful work like this, which tackles these issues is most welcome. The author has decades of experience and insight and he writes well. If you want or need to know about the Philippines, this is the book to start with!
June 4, 2023
Steve Rood's book offers a fair reading of past and contemporary Philippine politics. The book started with geography and demography, then history to economics, society, and governance. If you wanted to learn more about the Philippines, this book is for you.
April 30, 2020
Super general, but a good read on my peeps. Little of geography, history, economics even.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews