Historical Dictionary of the Philippines [Hardcover]

Guillermo Artemio Ramos (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0810832437 | ISBN-13: 978-0810832435

Selection of background information was culled for historical value to contemporary political, economic, and cultural life of the Filipino people. Cross references within the entries will prove particularly useful for finding other relevant information on certain topics. Includes map and chronology.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The author, well qualified by his background and education in the Philippines and the United States, ranges freely and authoritatively over the Philippine landscape....this reference work is an important contribution to Philippine studies in a field where there is little available in the United States. (Arba )

Now a retired American academic, Philippine-born Guillermo came to the U.S. as a Fulbright-Crusade scholar, and then taught at a number of American universities. He co-authored the first edition of this resource text with Win (1948-2002; Northern Illinois U.). Guillermo offers an updated and expanded edition of the text, which covers the long struggle for independence and the distinctive periods since then, and includes entries on many decisive events and essential institutions; the country's cities, provinces, and geography; the people, patriots and politicians, soldiers and businessmen, and writers and artists. The revised edition incorporates new material recently found by the author in scholarly works, domestic newspapers, and foreign periodicals, and includes a chronology, maps, and extensive bibliography. (Reference & Research Book News ) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Artemio Ramos Guillermo, Ph.D. was formerly on the faculty of Bowling Green State University and the University of Northern Iowa. He is currently at work o Philippine Heritage series books for the English as a Second Language (ESL) programs for the California Public Schools. May Kyi Win is curator of the Donn V. Hart Southeast Asia Collection at Northeastern Illinois University. She is co-author of the "Historical Dictionary of Thailand" (Scarecrow, 1995) and editor of the "Bulletin of the Burma Studies Group".

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. (December 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810832437
• ISBN-13: 978-0810832435
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,895,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Caveat emptor, February 19, 2008

By 

Victor E. Romero - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Historical Dictionary of the Philippines (Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East) (Hardcover)

Before you buy this book, do an internet search on "Historical Dictionary Philippines." Then read the reviews of this book by Norman G. Owen in Journal of Asian Studies and Paul A. Rodell in the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies.

As a historical dictionary, this is a disgrace. It is so full of questionable statements and outright errors. To single out a few of the most egregious:

The description of the Philippines as peopled by "tribes" who came in three "waves" (Aetas, "Indonesians" and "Malays") reflects early twentieth-century theorizing, long abandoned by serious anthropologists and prehistorians.

For nearly thirty years now the Code of Kalantiao (pp. 60-61) has been known to be a complete forgery.

Ma-I was not the "Chinese name for Manila" (p. 185), but referred to Mindoro.

Encomiendas were not "landed estates of the Spaniards" (p. 81); they represented control over people, not land. They did not, therefore, produce "tobacco for export to Mexico" (p. 131), nor was tobacco "the chief export commodity during the galleon trade" (p. 196). Tobacco developed as an export crop only late in the eighteenth century, when the galleon trade was almost at an end.

Inquilinos were not "hired managers" of the friar estates (p. 125), but leaseholders, who sublet the land for cultivation to tenants.

The Americans captured Manila in 1898, not 1899 (p. 152), and the First Philippine Commission (p. 89; with a duplicate entry under Philippine Commission, First) was appointed not at the end of the Philippine-American Revolution [sic] in 1901, but in 1899, while the war was still going on.

It is misleading to say that "new [non-Catholic] doctrines of Christianity came to the Philippines in the 19th century" (p. 205) when none were allowed in until after 1898.

Sugar was exported duty-free to the U.S. after 1909, not 1934 (p. 135).

Ramon Magsaysay did not serve as President "for only two years" (p. 147), but three (January 1954 to March 1957).

The chronology (pp. xix-xl) misdates the start of the galleon trade (1593, not 1615), the attack of Limahong (1574, not 1622), and the alleged "introduction" of sugar cane and tobacco in 1800 by governor Jose Basco (who served 1778-87).

Most typhoons do not travel "in an easterly direction" toward the Philippines (p. 247), but come west from the Pacific.

Almost as disturbing as the factual errors is the erratic judgment as to what should be included and at what length. There is no entry for: the tobacco monopoly, tribute (tributo), Andres de Urdaneta, Juan de Salcedo, Bishop Salazar, the Jones Act, the Wood-Forbes Mission, the Hare-Hawes-Cutting bill, T.H. Pardo de Tavera and Raul Manglapus. There are no entries for the historic provinces of Morong, Tondo and Tayabas, nor the dioceses of Nueva Caceres and Nueva Segovia. There are entries for the American governors-general, but not the Spanish ones.

Some of the failures of this book may be attributed to the fact that neither of its authors is a historian (nor is anyone mentioned in the acknowledgments).

Think twice before you buy this book.