10 Best Books About Philippine History in the Philippines 2024 | State and Society in the Philippines, The Conjugal Dictatorship of Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos, and More

This is the second installment of the State and Society in the Philippines (2005), packed with additional resources and new information. This second edition is longer than the first one, exploring the precolonial Philippines up to the first year of the Duterte administration. It's the latest and most reliable and well-written history book you should have on your shelf!

The book's uniqueness relies on its detailed examination of the country's institutional weakness and the strategies employed by the state to overcome it. Abinales and Amoroso also did a deep dive into societal contexts and social actors to help readers better understand the conditions of Philippine society in various periods.

This book was highly controversial when it was released during Martial Law - it was even banned in the Philippines. This tell-all book was written by a journalist who also became President Marcos' media adviser. In the book, he explains why he chose to defect from the dictator and details the excesses and atrocities that happened during that time.

This is an important book to read, especially for the younger generation who are unclear about what happened during this dark time in our history. Primitivo Mijares disappeared shortly after he testified in the US Congress about the abuses during Marcos' time. His body is yet to be found, but his book continues to inform us about the oppressions he witnessed firsthand.

This book is a collection of essays from National Artist Nick Joaquin that is rich with historical facts and thought-provoking ideas. It can be uncomfortable to read at times, especially when Joaquin bluntly spews his insights about what being a Filipino is about. It is brilliantly laced with historical events that lay the groundwork for his thesis.

Many readers say this book is one of the best they've read. These are not the history lessons you learned in school. Get ready to grapple with his perception of pre-colonial Filipinos who were romanticized in every Social Studies class you took in school. This is an important book to pick up to have a deeper understanding not just of history but of who we are as a people. 

This history book focuses on the oppression of Filipinos during the Spanish and American eras. It highlights how class differences brought about these struggles the nation suffered. Renato Constantino is known for his leanings to the left, and it is apparent in this book. He gives a scathing analysis of how the Philippine class structure shapes our history.

Constantino, just like his contemporary Teodoro Agoncillo, played an important role in taking back the Philippine narrative at a time when what was available were mostly Westernized versions of our nation's history. This book exposed myths and prejudices from Spanish and U.S. historians that Filipinos were taught in school.

We have all heard the stories about Jose Rizal that put him on a pedestal, all meant to cement his status as our national hero. Rizal enthusiast Ambeth Ocampo does a superb job of debunking myths and humanizing Rizal. Our beloved Pepe gets angry, jealous, and can be petty, just like us.

This book is a collection of essays that undresses Rizal as we know him. Ocampo shared that his father pointed out Rizal's overcoat as seen in his photos and statuesーwhy wear that in a tropical country? In seeing Rizal without the trappings of heroism, readers are inspired to think that anybody can aspire to do great things that can shape our nation's history.

Our history as a nation is marked with long stretches of colonization that undoubtedly shaped how we think, act, and speak today. This book expounds on the gruesome details of imperialism. It shows how our colonizers need not be present in our country for them to continue holding power over us.

From pre-colonial Philippines all the way to the 21st century, this book is a comprehensive telling of our history. It challenges the reader to find a more rooted sense of nationalism, finding the heart and soul that is uniquely ours. It makes you re-examine how you look at society, with the different classes, religions, and indigenous tribes experiencing continued oppression. 

The Spaniards may have had the longest hold on us, but American influences proved to be more dominant. In this book, Floro Quibuyen explores the terrible state of Philippine nationalism due to American colonial rule. Focusing on the trajectory of our country's nationalist movements, he explored its formation and deformation from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.

The author lays down facts and arguments through 4 interesting sets of dichotomies: Ibarra versus Elias, Rizal versus Bonifacio, Ilustrados versus Masses, and Reform versus Revolution. He encourages the readers to rediscover our history and vision, reread Rizal and rethink his project, and, ultimately, revise Philippine nationalism.

The United States has long made us believe that when we say freedom, what we want is to be like them. This book provides an eye-opening narrative of how the US took advantage of our country, only to leave as soon as WWII ravaged the nation's capital and the economy in ruins. 

The book paints a clear picture of how the US laid the foundation for making the Philippines dependent on them for the long run. Parallelisms are also drawn with what the US did in Vietnam in a war their veterans still remember. It shares a clear depiction of how the Philippines was gravely victimized by the fragile white male ego.

A collection of the author's published articles on the protests happening in the 1960s and the 1970s, this book gives you a front-row seat to the First Quarter Storm. Pete Lacaba is an activist who painstakingly chronicled what it was like to be out on the streets protesting against a power-hungry President. This is frontline reporting that deserves to be revisited today.

Read about how the government tried to control its people by denying them permits to hold rallies, dispersing them with guns, water cannons, in some cases arrests and torture, and the extreme disappearances. This is an important book that gives hard facts about a period our country is being forced to forgive and forget.

Named as one of the best books of 2018 by editors at Amazon, Kirkus, and Military Times, this book meticulously chronicled the horrors of the Battle of Manila. It paints a picture of Manila during its prime - a bustling metropolis with swimming pools and golf courses, a city destroyed by war with its glory never again to be restored.

But more than the city, this story is a story of people. The Battle of Manila was merciless; outside the battlefield, there are stories of violence, starvation, and disease. This is a compelling book that reads like a war novel, only this work is non-fiction.