Book excerpt: This book makes a postcolonial reading of the American invasion and colonization of the Philippines in 1898. It considers how nineteenth-century American popular culture, specifically political cartoons and caricatures, influenced American foreign policy. These sources, drawn from several U.S. libraries and archives, show how race and gender ideologies significantly influenced the move of the U.S. to annex the Philippines. The book not only includes a significant collection of political cartoons and caricatures about Filipinos, it also offers an alternative interpretation of the reasons why the U.S. ventured into colonial expansion in Asia.