October is Filipino American History Month and there are a number of events celebrating this heritage in the Northwest and beyond. This year also marks the centennial of Carlos Bulosan‘s birth, and a series of events—including the “Empire is in the Heart” conference at the University of Washington—seek to celebrate his place in American literary and labor history. The University of Washington Press is proud to be the publisher of a number of history and literature titles that shed light on multiple aspects of the Filipino American experience:

America Is in the Heart: A Personal History 
By Carlos Bulosan
New introduction by Marilyn Alquizola and Lane Ryo Hirabayashi

First published in 1943, this classic memoir by well-known Filipino poet Carlos Bulosan describes his boyhood in the Philippines, his voyage to America, and his years of hardship and despair as an itinerant laborer following the harvest trail in the rural West. Read an excerpt from the new edition here.

All the Conspirators
By Carlos Bulosan; introduction by Caroline S. Hau and Benedict Anderson

In this thriller set at the end of World War II, American Gar Stanley returns to his native Philippines to help his childhood sweetheart locate her missing husband in the wake of a Japanese ambush. With Clem’s ring as his only clue, Gar moves from the nightclubs of Manila to the mountains of Baguio, from mansions to hovels, bordellos to churches. He pursues and is pursued by bankers, matrons, hoboes, warriors, and thugs. Gar quickly realizes that no one is who they seem in this war-ravaged country. He must move quickly to stay ahead of the deadly conspirators before they silence his friend.

Growing Up Brown: Memoirs of a Filipino American
By Peter Jamero, foreword by Dorothy Laigo Cordova

Peter Jamero’s story of hardship and success illuminates the experience of what he calls the “bridge generation” — the American-born children of the Filipinos recruited as farm workers in the 1920s and ’30s. Their experiences span the gap between these early immigrants and those Filipinos who owe their U.S. residency to the liberalization of immigration laws in 1965. His book is a sequel of sorts to Carlos Bulosan’s America Is in the Heart, with themes of heartbreaking struggle against racism and poverty and eventual triumph. Continue reading →