“Three Centuries in a Catholic Convent and Fifty Years in Hollywood”: A Journalist’s History of the American Colonial Period in the Philippines

Book Review Karnow, Stanley. In Our Image: America’s Empire in the Philippines. New York: Random House, Inc., 1989.

Abstract

Stanley Karnow’s In Our Image: America’s Empire in the Philippines thoroughly examined (a) the colonialist rule of the United States in the Philippines, (b) their achievements and blunders in the colony, and (c) their postwar neocolonial influence on the country. Moreover, a product of 4 years’ research and frequent visits to the Philippines and the United States, Karnow’s monograph discusses America’s acquisition of the Philippines since 1898, the United States-Philippines “special relationship,” and American efforts in remaking the colony according to their image, values, and government. His book is, primarily, a journalist’s history in which he attempted to write that story while avoiding the errors of presentism. This review further traces (a) his assessment of the American colonial period in the Philippines, (b) his work’s contribution in Philippine historiography, and (c) the application of John Mearsheimer’s Theory of Offensive Realism to his underlying thesis.