Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves: Lost Tales from the Philippine Colonial Period, 1565-1946

By Lio Mangubat

An unconventional history lesson, in the form of masterfully written essays that may reveal how little we know about the Philippines.

Format: Paperback
Pages: 200

The Book: An unconventional history lesson, in the form of short essays that may reveal how little we know about this country. From a particularly popular animal and World War II to volcanoes and a beloved sport in America, this book will constantly surprise you with tales almost lost to time, now recounted with masterful storytelling and painstaking research.

Read if you: need new "did you know?" material for watercooler conversation.

SURPRISE YOUR SHELF #013 SELECTION

A country’s history is like a jigsaw puzzle. The bigger picture of how a country and its people came to be can be pieced together through multiple narratives, perspectives, and stories. In Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves, Lio Mangubat reaches back into the depths of colonial archives and brings to life long-lost stories that would otherwise have been footnotes in Philippine history.

Featuring 13 essays inspired by his podcast series The Colonial Dept., Mangubat spins tales of galleons, triads, fickle spirits, long-lost maps, and the secret history of otters. In these pages, learn about how the entire country became mad for baseball; how Mexican fighter pilots flew dangerous missions over the Philippines during World War II; or how American occupiers fell victim to a mysterious illness called “Philippinitis".

Beyond revisiting days gone by, Mangubat also connects the threads of each story to the wider tapestry of world history — and how these can unspool even up to our current time. 

About the Author

Lio Mangubat is the creator of Philippine history podcast The Colonial Dept., which features long-lost stories from the country's past under Spanish, British, American, and Japanese rule. He is currently editor in chief of publishing house Summit Books, and is based in Manila. Follow him on Instagram at @liomangubat and @thecolonialdept.