A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 by David J. Silbey

A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 by David J. Silbey, is the history of a little known conflict, an outgrowth of the Spanish-American War.  Our nation, takings its first steps as a world power, easily defeated the Spanish in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.  But the Philippines had a native, organized army, which actually fought most of the war against the Spanish.  It was the hope of this government that American intervention would lead to immediate independence.

This was not the case.  The United States instead fought a conventional campaign against the Filipino army. These set piece battles caused high casualty rates on the Filipino side.  Then war then shifted to an insurgency/guerrilla campaign, and although the Filipinos were more successful at this stage, eventually America won the war and occupied the island. Silbey’s conclusions about the war and American presence in the Philippines will no doubt ruffle some feathers.  He views the American occupation as beneficial to the Philippines and its people.  No doubt, many would argue this point.   

Despite this, Sibley shines a fascinating light on American intervention abroad  in the early days of our nation as a world power.