Bound by War: How the United States and the Philippines Built America’s First Pacific Century

MIT history professor Capozzola (Uncle Sam Wants You) delivers a comprehensive chronicle of the military alliance between the U.S. and the Philippines. After partnering with revolutionary leader Emilio Aguinaldo in the 1898 Spanish-American War, U.S. Navy commander George Dewey claimed that he had never promised the Philippines—which was ceded to the U.S. in the Treaty of Paris—its independence. Aguinaldo disagreed, and American forces, fighting with the help of allied indigenous troops, eventually defeated Filipino insurgents in 1902. In the early 20th century, American officials sought to establish the Philippines as a showplace of enlightened colonialism and a projection of U.S. power in Asia. Plans for the archipelago’s defense from Japanese invasion in WWII proved woefully inadequate, and Filipino and American soldiers died side by side in the Bataan Death March. The Philippines finally gained its independence in 1946, and U.S. armed forces and intelligence agencies maintained a substantial influence on the island nation, partnering with local forces to battle communist rebels during the Cold War and Muslim jihadists after 9/11. Capozzola musters an impressive array of source material to document these mutually entwined military histories and the impact of U.S. geopolitics and immigration reform on the Philippines. Readers will savor this detailed study of an underexamined aspect of American foreign policy. (July)