16世紀にスペインが植民地化して以来、フィリピンの島々は世界的な貿易の流れ、帝国間の競争、そしてグローバリゼーションのプロセスの中心にあり続けてきました。スペインの太平洋ガリオン船貿易の主要拠点としての役割から、数世紀後の米国による統治、そして日本による占領まで、フィリピンはいつも経済的・軍事的競争の中心地でした。1946年に独立したフィリピンは、長年の停滞を経て経済成長を遂げ、2019年の本書刊行時点では、現代的なポピュリストであるロドリゴ・ドゥテルテ大統領が統治し、東アジア地域の新興超大国である中国と紛争を繰り広げています。
本書は30年以上にわたってフィリピン共和国に滞在し、この地域について研究を行ってきた著者が、地理・地質、歴史、文化、経済、政治、将来の展望など、読者がフィリピンについて知りたいことを的確に分析し、解説しています。非常に多様性に富んだ国で、これからも世界情勢の鍵を握ると考えられるフィリピンについて、信頼の置ける情報を手軽に得ることができる入門書です。
    

• A well-informed general overview from a scholar with more than 30 years of residence in and study of the Philippines
• Covers geography, history, culture, economy, politics, government, geopolitics, and prospects for the future
• Presented in a question-and-answer format that makes it easy for readers to locate a topic that is of interest to them; each answer can be read on its own

　　
Since the colonization of the Philippines by Spain in the sixteenth century, the island archipelago has been at the center of global trade flows. And from its status as the main base of Spain's Pacific galleon trade to its conquest centuries later by late-arriving imperial powers like the United States and Japan, it has been a focal point of economic and military rivalry too. Decolonized in 1946, this enormously diverse country is ruled today by a classic modern authoritarian, Rodrigo Duterte, and is embroiled in a series of as-of-yet minor disputes with the East Asia region's rising superpower, China. As it has globalized, its population has migrated across the world too, and Filipino now comprise the second-largest population of Asian-Americans in the United States.
　　　
In The Philippines: What Everyone Needs to Know®, Steven Rood draws from more than 30 years of residence in and study of the Philippines in order to provide a concise overview of the nation. Arranged in a question-and-answer format, this guide shares concise, nuanced analysis and helps readers find exactly what they seek to learn about Filipino geography and geology, history, culture, economy, politics through the ages, and prospects for the future. This book is an ideal primer on an enormously diverse country that has been and will likely remain a key site in world affairs.