ABSTRACT
This article explores the global moment surrounding 1898 to see the way in which the spectre of Japan was rapidly transforming the European imperial powers’ understanding of the region and revealing to them an emerging geography of political affinity then stitching together pockets of Asia. Intra-Asian connections/affinities antedated the appearance of Western interests, were sustained during the long period of Spanish rule, and infused the anti-colonial nationalist movement that culminated in the Philippine Revolution. American Empire: A Global History follows most of the traditional Philippine and American literatures on the period of high imperialism in failing to acknowledge the importance of the Asian setting. While Hopkins's move to bring the larger insular American empire into a single focus is novel and deeply important, the immediate, regional Asian setting of this moment in Philippine history – and American history – should also be restored.
