Because it's 3am and I'm still up and restless, I decided to post the first book I read for the year: "The History of the Burgis" by Mariel Francisco and Fe Maria Arriola. I got this in one of the bookshops in Cubao X, aka the Marikina Shoe Expo. I've been eyeing it for quite some time, but the price tag kept me off it, until last month I gave in and got it.
Traces the history of social injustice in the country, the evolution of the classes and how the datus became the principalia became the ilustrado became the professional became the burgis, etc etc. Very informative, very fun, with lots of illustrations and stand alone articles. Useful political commentary. Huge chunk devoted to post-war, especially the Martial Law years. May seem a bit outdated since this came out after the first Edsa Revolution, but the non-surprising thing is that most of it still holds: 90% of the population is still poor, and the top 2% still controls the wealth of the nation.
Interesting bit: the peso to dollar exchange rate at the time of Diosdado Macapagal was Php2 = $1. Because of the conditions of the IMF/WB, the peso was devalued to Php3.90 = $1. Why does this sound so familiar?
1 comment:
Post a Comment