Dorothy Friesen's acquaintance with the Philippines dates back more than ten years, to her role as co-director of the Mennonite Central Committee program in the Philippines. Since that time she has returned to the Philippines many times to conduct interviews, do research, and lead international fact-finding delegations.
In this book she recounts her experience, offering reflection on and analysis of the Philippines under both Marcos and Aquino. Friesen contends that the Aquino revolution did not deal the substantive issues of military and land reform and international economic dependency - issues that are producing the present crisis for Philippine society. she sees the Philippine situation as presenting crucial foreign policy decisions for the United States government and as a paradigm for U.S. relations with other Third World countries.
part travelogue, part personal odyssey, part economic and social analysis, Friesen's book arises from the understand that the personal and the political are inseparable. The result is an illuminating look at the current situation in the Philippines that combines the experiential and reflective with hard political, economic, and historical data.