In time of hesitation : American anti-imperialists and the Philippine-American war / Roger J. Bresnahan.

The centenary of the Philippine-American war which led to the conquest and colonization of the Philippines is barely fifteen years away. The publication of this book is therefore most timely. In the wisdom of hindsight, the war in the Philippines at the turn of the century can be seen as the dress rehearsal for the war in Vietnam which came sixty-seven years later. Thus, the bloodiest colonial war in history up to that time, anticipated the bloodiest foreign war in which Americans were involved after World War II. The distinguished philosopher George Santayana has written: "Those who ignore the lessons of history are condemned to repeat it." Santayana, who is represented in this anthology, belonged to the Boston group of liberal intellectuals who opposed the conquest of the Philippines. How prescient his warning has turned out to be! For it may well be true that the Americans could have avoided involvement in the Vietnam war if they had remembered the war in the Philippines and drawn the appropriate lessons from that experience. --From the foreword