History of the Phillipines?

[Flying Purple People Eater]

Does anyone here have any resources on the history of the Phillipines?

Particularly the pre-colonial history of the isles, the period of Spanish and American rule (wasn't the Phillipines basically America's first and only 'official colony'?), independence, the civil war in the South and other modern happenings.

If anyone knows of the Philippines' political spectrum, feel free to share that as well.

Thanks.

[Os Cangaceiros]

There's a good chapter on the Phillipines in "Violent Politics" by William Polk.

I don't remember all that much about it, only that there's always been some kind of civil unrest or insurgency going on there for the past century, at least. The Filipino resistance battled pretty relentlessly against subsequent occupations by the Spanish, Americans and the Japanese. The insurgency was thwarted pretty good post-WW2, though, in fact I think that the successful anti-insurgency effort there, along with the British anti-insurgency effort in Malaysia, was seen as proof that the insurgency could be successfully beaten in (South) Vietnam. But we all know how that turned out.