The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States, and the Philippines [Paperback]

Paul A. Kramer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0807856533 | ISBN-13: 978-0807856536

In 1899 the United States, having announced its arrival as a world power during the Spanish-Cuban-American War, inaugurated a brutal war of imperial conquest against the Philippine Republic. Over the next five decades, U.S. imperialists justified their colonial empire by crafting novel racial ideologies adapted to new realities of collaboration and anticolonial resistance. In this pathbreaking, transnational study, Paul Kramer reveals how racial politics served U.S. empire, and how empire-building in turn transformed ideas of race and nation in both the United States and the Philippines.

Kramer argues that Philippine-American colonial history was characterized by struggles over sovereignty and recognition. In the wake of a racial-exterminist war, U.S. colonialists, in dialogue with Filipino elites, divided the Philippine population into "civilized" Christians and "savage" animists and Muslims. The former were subjected to a calibrated colonialism that gradually extended them self-government as they demonstrated their "capacities." The latter were governed first by Americans, then by Christian Filipinos who had proven themselves worthy of shouldering the "white man's burden." Ultimately, however, this racial vision of imperial nation-building collided with U.S. nativist efforts to insulate the United States from its colonies, even at the cost of Philippine independence. Kramer provides an innovative account of the global transformations of race and the centrality of empire to twentieth-century U.S. and Philippine histories.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A useful contribution. . . . Fascinating."
— Patterns of Prejudice

"A very significant contribution to the study of American imperialism. . . . A book that will define and influence the way the next generation of scholars will look at the American empire in the Philippines and Asia. . . . An impressive book that is both highly specific and broadly suggestive. It presents a thorough and thoughtful study of the imperial relationship between the United States and the Philippines. . . . A solid contribution toward building a new historiography of U.S. empire."
— H-Diplo

"An important work not only to the field of Philippine-American studies, but also to the studies of race and imperialism in general."
—Journal of American Studies

"Compelling. . . . The author shows impressive command of . . . the sources in the United States and the Philippines, ranging from personal papers, newspapers, and military civilian archives. . . . Highly recommend[ed]."
—CENTRO Journal

"A formidable assessment of the intertwined nature of race and U.S. imperialism."
— Journal of Southern History

"A useful and often original analysis of a very interesting and highly complex period of colonial history."
— Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"A much needed and innovative intervention into the scholarship on the American empire and the Philippine nation-state."
Vicente L. Rafael, University of Washington"

From the Inside Flap

Examining racial politics during American colonial rule in the Philippines, Kramer shows that Americans did not merely export their own racial politics on a blank slate; rather, they dispensed power on the basis of race, but often faced contentious dialogue about it with Filipino elites. He argues that in order to understand Philippine-American colonialism, it is important to consider the Spanish period of colonization that preceded it.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 552 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (April 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807856533
• ISBN-13: 978-0807856536
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.3 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #417,966 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.