Cousins of Color (Hardcover)

~ William Schroder (Author) "Can you see anything, sir?" Sergeant Rosa shouted over the roar of the fierce monsoon wind..." (more)
Key Phrases: quarantine tent, shall overcome someday, loose rails, Sergeant Rivers, Lieutenant Alstaetter, Captain Baston (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Luzon, Philippines, 1899. Immersed in the chaos and brutality of America’s first overseas war of conquest and occupation, Private David Fagen has a decision to make - forsake his country or surrender his soul. The result: a young black man in search of respect and inclusion turns his back on Old Glory - and is hailed a hero of the Filipino fight for independence.

Negro blood is just as good as a white man’s when spilled in defense of the American Way, or so Fagen believed. But this time his country seeks not justice but empire. Pandemonium rules Fagen’s world, anarchy the High Sheriff, and he knows every time he pulls the trigger, he helps enslave the people he came to liberate.

Not just an account of an extraordinary black solider caught in the grip of fate and circumstance, Cousins of Color tells the story of Fagen’s love for the beautiful and mysterious guerilla fighter, Clarita Socorro, and his sympathy for her people’s struggle for freedom. Cousins also chronicles Colonel Fredrick Funston’s monomaniacal pursuit of victory at any cost and his daredevil mission to capture Emilio Aguinaldo, the leader of the Philippine revolution. Other characters include the dangerously unstable Captain Baston, particularly cruel in his treatment of prisoners and Sergeant Warren Rivers, the father Fagen never had.

Himself a Vietnam combat veteran, author William Schroder hurtles us through the harsh realities of this tropical jungle war and provides powerful insight into the dreams and aspirations of human souls corrupted and debased by that violent clash of cultures and national wills. Based on actual events, David Fagen’s pursuit of truth and moral purpose in the Philippine Campaign brings focus to America’s continuing obsession with conquest and racism and provides insight into many of today’s prevailing sentiments.

About the Author

William Schroder is a Vietnam veteran, infantry officer, helicopter pilot, businessman, sailor and author of several essays, short stories and screen plays. Cousins of Color is his first book-length effort.

Growing up in the politically charged '60s, for decades Bill was an outspoken critic of our nation's continuing negative preoccupation with racial themes and issues. Inspired by Dr. Willard B. Gatewood's Smoked Yankees and the Struggle for Empire, Bill spent four years researching and writing about the Philippine Campaign, a shameful period in our nation's history most Americans would like to ignore.

Currently living in the Pacific Northwest, Bill is researching a second historical novel based on the life of Martha Mason, a mulatto woman of property who battled the white power structure during the turbulent years following the Civil War.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Twenty First Century Publishers Ltd (March 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904433138
• ISBN-13: 978-1904433132
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,278,175 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing history and character study, August 4, 2004

By	A. Mosa (Puget Sound, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cousins of Color (Paperback)

"Cousins of Color" is a fascinating and enlightening view of America's involvement in the Philippines at the turn of the century. President McKinley has sent US military forces to Manila for 'humanitarian' purposes. This is not a book about the men who make important decisions but about the trickle down effect those decisions have on other men. Schroder's story allows the reader to see what doors are opened by the arrogance of those in power. We see the dark side of some men manifest itself and the strength of character in others come through. It's a book about choices and one man choosing to do what is right over what is expedient.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Letter to the author from Dr. Willard Gatewood, June 8, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Cousins of Color (Paperback)

Dear Mr. Schroder:

I have spent much of my rather long career as an academic historian studying various aspects of African American life and culture. I knew of David Fagen, but mine was a very superficial knowledge of this most extraordinary individual.

In my view, you have used Fagen in Cousins of Color - a work that follows very closely the historical record - to capture the "real" story of America's involvement in the Philippines, especially as it relates to the issue of race. Cousins of Color demonstrates the extent to which Uncle Sam and Jim Crow marched arm-in-arm into the Philippines under the banner of something officially called "benevolent assimilation." No other work with which I am familiar so thouroughly captures the complex forces involved in this aspect of the Spanish-American War or demonstrates such a firm grasp of the context and diverse ingredients of this conflict. Your knowledge of the plight of African American soldiers, the different cultural and language groups in the Philippines and the relationship that developed between these two so-called "colored peoples" is indeed extraordinary.

There is no doubt that through historical fiction you have illuminated a highly significant chapter in America's past in ways we historians have been unable to do. Cousins of Color explores with extraordinary skill themes and ideas that have persisted in our history for a very long time and will capture and hold the attention of readers, most of whom are certain to detect analogies between "the struggle for empire" at the end of the 19th century and later struggles waged under various banners in the 20th century and beyond.

Dr. Willard B. Gatewood,
Alumni Distinguished Professor of History (Emeritus)

Author of: Black Americans and the White Man's Burden
Smoked Yankees and the Struggle for Freedom
Aristocrats of Color

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, August 3, 2004

By	D. T Welsh (LA, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In the tradition of Stone and Vidal, this vivid and visceral biographical novel took me on a page turning journey into the depths of David Fagen's soul. William Schroder has painted a truly astonishing story of one man's agonizing and passionate clash between love of country and personal truth. Set in the Philippines during the Spanish American War, this country's frist encounter with "liberating occupation," I found myself engrossed in this remarkable story and asking the same difficult questions that must be facing many Americans in today's challenging times. When Hollywood makes this into a movie, and surely it will, I pray it will be as honest as this work so richly deserves. Excellent, absolutely excellent.

Dean T. Welsh, Los Angeles, California