The Marcos Dynasty

It could be said that Marcos was before my time. What I knew about him I gleaned as a high school student from watching late night comedy shows featuring quips about Mrs. Marcos (Imelda) and her vast collection of shoes. Cue the applause sign. In my twenties, I got a chance to visit the Philippines and thought I'd bone up on that frequently overlooked country, and that is how I stumbled on this book. There wasn't much applauding. Nor did I laugh. Not even once.The rise and fall of the Marcos dynasty is a fascinating tale; a jaw-dropping account of how incredibly - nay, impossibly - black and deceptive the human heart can be. After coming to power illegaly, Marcos and his entourage of cronies and sycophants spent two decades robbing the struggling Pacific republic absolutely blind. During his reign, the Philippines became a major international player in just about every illicit activity under the sun, i.e. drug running, illegal arms sales, and especially child prostitution. While the underground economy boomed everything else simply ground to a halt and the people languished in poverty and even starvation. Riding on the back of the misery, authoritarianism, and insitutionalized corruption that he helped engender, Ferdinand Marcos became - wait for it - the richest man in all of Asia. Think about that for a moment. And here's the kicker: the US government was his biggest supporter. Indeed, the US would have courted the devil himself in order to garner "moral" and military support for Vietnam and with Marcos they came darned close.Seagrave is an adept narrator and and an expert researcher. From Marcos's rise as a Japanese collaborator to his expulsion under People Power, the author takes us on a dizzying if not mind boggling adventure. This is an excellent read.Troy Parfitt, author

Through no fault of the seller I just noe today recieved the book. Doesn't matter really anyway I don't have time to read now anyway. I will say the book is in great condition and I am happy to have it.

Very enlightening about corruption levels in the Philippines, United States, Japan, China. Wealth, deception and manipulation beyond my imagination. A bit dry here and there but full of information you couldn't dream up if you tried. After this, I'll surely doubt every news story I hear!

The book was excellent but difficult to digest in one reading. It is so convoluted with its many contributing references. For me, it offered only the tip of an extremely complicated glimpse of Phillipine's statistically sad history during WW II.

Seagrave is a prolific writer of credible width and depth. I read 4 of his books, including "The Marcos Dynasty" with great suspense and expectation. I was not dissapointed. The media does not always report what relevant information we should know. Writers such as Seagrave fill in the meat between the skeletons and give a clearer picture. No political agenda, just facts and details as any writer could research and provide.Forget about Imeldas shoes, this book will describe their lust for power, no respect for their own people, no respect for the common rule of live and let live, no respect for laws of this world. I enjoyed reading Seagraves style, as I know everyone else would.

Great historical account, hard to find many worth reading. A bit biased from an American writer with his obvious progressive secular points of view, but still a good, detailed worth reading

Very interesting read about Marcos rule in the Philippines....author did a lot of historical research and blended it well into an informative, interesting book. Several myths about Marcos are exposed, and lots of unbelievable(but apparently true) material about their personal lives, interests, and excesses.

This is a great book, which I have shared with friends.Warning -- the political behavior which Seagrave documents includes extreme violence and cruelty. A couple of my friends have put it down for that reason.Another of Seagrave's books, "The Soong Dynasty," is even more fascinating. If you like the back-story of history, including family events, CIA covert actions, etc., you'll like "The Marcos Dynasty."

Well researched account of the subject and of the USA influences.A good read for anyone who was remotely associated with the Philippine region and/or the period of Marcos`s reign.Similar attempts at dynasty creation exist today with people like Robert Mugabe, as egotistic and megalomaniacal as Marcos. Frightening how such an individual and his spouse can be allowed to reach such positions of untouchability.The author definitely reveals how "for bad men to succeed, it needs only for good men to remain silent".

Democracy in the Philippines was a joke but what's worse is how our government of all persuasions collaborate with the corruption. Disgraceful. These are people lecturedlied to us about right and wrong while acting in the way they did. I will be even less trusting of our so-called democratic leaders in future. They are all as bad as each other and those they talk down to.

A lot of history of the Marcos family leading up to the time of his term as president...l rather lost the plot...l have not yet finished the book..so time will tell

I read another book about the Marcos administration, but this is what I would say the best book, that describes the life and reign of this former twice elected president and dictator of the Philippines.

Although I have much enjoyed this book and learned a lot, it is heavy going with so much detail that it's confusing. I had to go back a couple of times to clarify people and their connections. Knowing the country helped. Worth reading but I took longer than expected to get through it.