I received an email from Jim Richardson, a British historian who made extensive studies in the history of Filipino revolution and the country’s communist party. I wanted to share his email because it was meant to be a comment on my post about American historian May and his criticism on how Filipino historians invented Bonifacio. I don’t know Jim personally but I’ve read his book “Komunista: the Philippine radical left”.
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> ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jim Richardson" <ommitted by blogger@googlemail.com> > To: arnaiz@verizonmail.com > Subject: Inventing a Hero > Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2009 10:54:07 +0100 > Hi Arnaldo, > > Congratulations on your blog, which is both informative and attractive. > > May I beg to differ, though, with your opinion that Glenn May's evidence can not be denied and his arguments can not be faulted. May's insinuations and allegations against Epifanio de los Santos and Jose P. Santos are definitely mistaken, for reasons I explain in excruciating detail in two pieces posted on the kasaysayan-kkk.info website - "Bonifacio's letters to Emilio Jacinto" > and "A note on the authenticity of 'Ang Dapat Mabatid ng mga Tagalog'". > > Best wishes, > > Jim Richardson
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I thank him for sharing his opinion and his research that I’ve been reading for some weeks now. Even though we see things differently, his studies on the Katipunan and its personalities is perhaps the most extensive and is worthy of being studied. Like May and all the other foreign historians writing books in Filipino historiography, he presents a different take on historic Filipino events; sometimes an outsider’s view gives a much needed objectivity.
