A Book Review on The Philippines: A Nation in the Making

Citizens from other parts of the world had scarce knowledge about the
Philippines and its people way back in the early part of 1990s. In light of this,
Felix Maxwell Keesing, a professor and head of the Department of
Anthropology and Sociology in the University of Hawaii, conducted a survey
in the Philippines, and eventually produced the book entitled The Philippines:
A Nation in the Making in 1937. According to him, it was primarily intended
for foreign students, although it can be also be used by a general reader.
This book has been successful in informing and exposing the intended
audiences with the Philippines as a nation in the making through the authors
narrative historical approach.
Since this book is a survey, or more of an adventure to the Philippines,
Keesing used a first person point of view to build up the main idea of the
book, that is, the Philippines was once an underdeveloped country but was
eventually influenced by the colonizers - Spaniards and Americans that
pioneered the changes, both good and bad, in the country. Starting with the
geography and the identity of the Filipino people, Keesing noticeably used
colorful words and adjectives to create a picture of what the Philippine
setting looks like. Aside from the pictures and illustrations every chapter, the
fractional comparison of numerical data between the Philippines and the
known countries allow the book to become more comprehendible and
engaging especially for foreign students. In general, these techniques can be
viewed as the authors narrative historical approach, considering that the
historical facts in this book were carefully chosen according to its importance
and the whys of the happenings were more stressed out. On the other hand,
the author plants emotional appeal to the readers that draw them to pity the
Filipino people; to view them as merely victims by the colonizers. This,
however, implies his bias toward the Filipinos which makes this book less
academic compared to typical technically written history books. Such
creativity in writing this book only accounts that this context is more suitable

for students, especially in foreign countries. Overall, although this book

appears to be less academic, it is still able to satisfy its solitary purpose
mentioned above.