In Our Image Americas Empire in the Philippines

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

"His treatment of the indecisiveness of President McKinley over the issue of empire and of the egotistical General MacArthur make the work a definite purchase for libraries. Weaker in treatment is the post-independence period, where Karnow concentrates upon Marcos and Aquino, both of whom he knows....Those who love swashbuckling history will enjoy this work." Library Journal

"Perhaps the best journalist writing on Asian affairs." Newsweek

"An impressively researched study of an adventure in empire that dared not speak its name." The New Republic

"Though Karnow claims that U.S. imperialism in its former colony, the Philippines, has been "uniquely benign" compared to European colonialism, the evidence set forth in this colorful, briskly readable history undercuts that prognosis. He shows that a succession of U.S. presidents and administrators coddled the archipelago's 60 or so ruling families, perpetuating the feudal oligarchy that continues to this day, and widening the gap between rich and poor." Publishers Weekly

"A brilliant, coherent social and political overview spanning three turbulent centuries." San Francisco Chronicle

"Stanley Karnow has written the ultimate book — brilliant, panoramic, engrossing — about American behavior overseas in the twentieth century." The Boston Sunday Globe

"This is a peculiar and often misleading book....Karnow is one of America's sentimental imperialists. He laments the errors of those who intervened, but not the act of intervention itself. Rather than criticize or condemn American colonialists, he emphasizes that they intended to help....In Our Image is full of ethical judgments, and in the main they indicate the author's inclination to explain away the American colonial impulse." Peter Tarr, The Nation

"A brilliant, coherent social and political overview spanning three turbulent centuries."--San Francisco Chronicle

Stanley Karnow won the Pulitzer Prize for this account of America's imperial experience in the Philippines. In a swiftly paced, brilliantly vivid narrative, Karnow focuses on the relationship that has existed between the two nations since the United States acquired the country from Spain in 1898, examining how we have sought to remake the Philippines "in our image," an experiment marked from the outset by blundering, ignorance, and mutual misunderstanding.

"Stanley Karnow has written the ultimate book--brilliant, panoramic, engrossing--about American behavior overseas in the twentieth century."--The Boston Sunday Globe

"A page-turning story and authoritative history."--The New York Times

"Perhaps the best journalist writing on Asian affairs."--Newsweek

Includes bibliographical references (p. 453-475) and index.

Stanley Karnow won the Pulitzer Prize for this account of America's imperial experience in the Philippines. In a swiftly paced, brilliantly vivid narrative, Karnow focuses on the relationship that has existed between the two nations since the United States acquired the country from Spain in 1898, examining how we have sought to remake the Philippines "in our image," an experiment marked from the outset by blundering, ignorance, and mutual misunderstanding.