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Overview
Sitting in Darkness follows the paths of three people in the Philippines: an American soldier of fortune, a Filipino revolutionary leader, and an American historian who left the safety and limits of the library for the hazards of the jungle. What emerges is a narrative in which past and present are unforgettably entwined.
In March 1982, David Haward Bain hiked 110 miles through the mountainous, sparsely populated coast of Luzon. Led by pygmy guides, he and his five companions crossed peaks, forded rivers, and negotiated jungles to retrace a historic expedition made during a pivotal but now forgotten American war.
What spurred Bain to attempt this trek were the personal sagas of two men who were symbols of their country's aspirations, headline makers at the century's turn, who are now largely unknown: Frederick Funston, a midwestern soldier of fortune and winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, and Emilio Aguinaldo, the heart and soul of the Philippine insurrection against the United States.
While in the Philippines, Bain spoke with moderate oppositionists, government supporters, and communist guerrillas; priests, social workers, political scientists, and historians; policemen and peasants. Their voices give considerable insight into the tinderbox of repression and revolution that smolders in the Philippines today. An epilogue brings the history of Philippine-American relations up to date with a meditation on the assassination of Benigno Aquino, a return during the People Power revolution, and what they mean for the future of Philippine and U.S. power in that part of the world.
Sitting in Darkness is more than a history, although it is that many times over. It is that rare book in which yesterday and today are brought into sharp and simultaneous focus. It is a vast and meticulously executed chronicle of two nations and their people inextricably linked by politics and power, history and blood.
In March 1982, David Haward Bain hiked 110 miles through the mountainous, sparsely populated coast of Luzon. Led by pygmy guides, he and his five companions crossed peaks, forded rivers, and negotiated jungles to retrace a historic expedition made during a pivotal but now forgotten American war.
What spurred Bain to attempt this trek were the personal sagas of two men who were symbols of their country's aspirations, headline makers at the century's turn, who are now largely unknown: Frederick Funston, a midwestern soldier of fortune and winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, and Emilio Aguinaldo, the heart and soul of the Philippine insurrection against the United States.
While in the Philippines, Bain spoke with moderate oppositionists, government supporters, and communist guerrillas; priests, social workers, political scientists, and historians; policemen and peasants. Their voices give considerable insight into the tinderbox of repression and revolution that smolders in the Philippines today. An epilogue brings the history of Philippine-American relations up to date with a meditation on the assassination of Benigno Aquino, a return during the People Power revolution, and what they mean for the future of Philippine and U.S. power in that part of the world.
Sitting in Darkness is more than a history, although it is that many times over. It is that rare book in which yesterday and today are brought into sharp and simultaneous focus. It is a vast and meticulously executed chronicle of two nations and their people inextricably linked by politics and power, history and blood.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781624884597 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | BookBaby |
| Publication date: | 11/03/1984 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 454 |
| File size: | 17 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
DAVID HAWARD BAIN has conducted prose and poetry workshops at Middlebury College since 1987, and has been associated with the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in varying capacities since 1980. Born in Camden, New Jersey and raised in Port Washington, New York, he was educated at Boston University and then lived in New York City for 14 years, working first in book publishing and then as a full-time writer.
He is the author of Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad (Viking, 1999; Penguin, 2000). It is an epic narrative history covering not only the dramatic struggle to link the oceans with twin bands of iron but three decades in which America doubled in size, fought three wars, and discovered itself. A main selection of the Book of the Month Club and a selection of the History Book Club, Empire Express was a finalist both for the Los Angeles Times Book Award in History and the Francis Parkman Prize, and won the New England Historical Association's and the National Railroad and Locomotive Historical Society's annual book prizes; the author was elected a Fellow in the Society of American Historians. The work was featured on Brian Lamb's C-SPAN show, "Booknotes," and received extensive media and review coverage. It was adapted by PBS "The American Experience" into a 2-hour documentary (Hidden Hill Productions, Producer Mark Zwonitzer), airing January 2003; Bain served as co-producer and principal commentator. He has appeared in many other documentaries for PBS, its affiliates, The History Channel, and MSNBC.
His most recent book is Bitter Waters: America's Forgotten Mission to the Dead Sea, published by The Overlook Press in 2011. It concerns the adventures of a Virginia officer, Lt. William Francis Lynch, who conceived and led a scientific expedition to the Holy Land in 1848––just months following the end of America's war with Mexico, and months before the discovery of gold in California. This now obscure chapter of American history, taking place far away from its shores, captured the imagination of multitudes around the world in 1848 as Lynch and his small crew braved geographical and local tribal dangers to answer an important scientific puzzle, along the way illuminating ancient places avoided since biblical times. Lynch later published a worldwide bestselling account of his travels.
Bain published The Old Iron Road: An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West, by Viking in May 2004, and in paperback by Penguin in May 2005. It centers around an eight-week road trip (summer 2000) along the 40th parallel, tracing many old emigrant routes (including the first transcontinental railroad) between the Missouri River and the Golden Gate, in a narrative shifting from historical yarns to modern-day sights and scenes. The book begins on the old Kansas trail between Fort Leavenworth and Omaha, where the author's grandmother was born in a covered wagon in 1889. An ebook edition is scheduled for summer 2013.
He is now at work on a historical memoir entitled The Girl Widow Unveiled: Unraveling Dark Secrets in an American Family. His short work has appeared in Smithsonian, American Heritage, Prairie Schooner (Readers' Choice Award), Kenyon Review, Columbia Journalism Review, TV Guide, and Glamour. He has reviewed regularly in The New York Times Book Review as well as Newsday and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and contributed many reviews to the Washington Post Book World and the Los Angeles Times, among others.
He lives in Vermont.
His website is: www.davidhbain.com
He is the author of Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad (Viking, 1999; Penguin, 2000). It is an epic narrative history covering not only the dramatic struggle to link the oceans with twin bands of iron but three decades in which America doubled in size, fought three wars, and discovered itself. A main selection of the Book of the Month Club and a selection of the History Book Club, Empire Express was a finalist both for the Los Angeles Times Book Award in History and the Francis Parkman Prize, and won the New England Historical Association's and the National Railroad and Locomotive Historical Society's annual book prizes; the author was elected a Fellow in the Society of American Historians. The work was featured on Brian Lamb's C-SPAN show, "Booknotes," and received extensive media and review coverage. It was adapted by PBS "The American Experience" into a 2-hour documentary (Hidden Hill Productions, Producer Mark Zwonitzer), airing January 2003; Bain served as co-producer and principal commentator. He has appeared in many other documentaries for PBS, its affiliates, The History Channel, and MSNBC.
His most recent book is Bitter Waters: America's Forgotten Mission to the Dead Sea, published by The Overlook Press in 2011. It concerns the adventures of a Virginia officer, Lt. William Francis Lynch, who conceived and led a scientific expedition to the Holy Land in 1848––just months following the end of America's war with Mexico, and months before the discovery of gold in California. This now obscure chapter of American history, taking place far away from its shores, captured the imagination of multitudes around the world in 1848 as Lynch and his small crew braved geographical and local tribal dangers to answer an important scientific puzzle, along the way illuminating ancient places avoided since biblical times. Lynch later published a worldwide bestselling account of his travels.
Bain published The Old Iron Road: An Epic of Rails, Roads, and the Urge to Go West, by Viking in May 2004, and in paperback by Penguin in May 2005. It centers around an eight-week road trip (summer 2000) along the 40th parallel, tracing many old emigrant routes (including the first transcontinental railroad) between the Missouri River and the Golden Gate, in a narrative shifting from historical yarns to modern-day sights and scenes. The book begins on the old Kansas trail between Fort Leavenworth and Omaha, where the author's grandmother was born in a covered wagon in 1889. An ebook edition is scheduled for summer 2013.
He is now at work on a historical memoir entitled The Girl Widow Unveiled: Unraveling Dark Secrets in an American Family. His short work has appeared in Smithsonian, American Heritage, Prairie Schooner (Readers' Choice Award), Kenyon Review, Columbia Journalism Review, TV Guide, and Glamour. He has reviewed regularly in The New York Times Book Review as well as Newsday and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and contributed many reviews to the Washington Post Book World and the Los Angeles Times, among others.
He lives in Vermont.
His website is: www.davidhbain.com
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