In the high mountains and jungles of the northern Philippines lived a quarter of a million people, Malayan, Indonesian and Pygmy. These so-called ‘non-Christians’, differing widely in life and custom, were little touched by Western-style culture and government until the twentieth century. Taming Philippine Headhunters (1934) reveals the special system of government worked out by the American colonial authorities and Filipino leaders to approach the peoples of the mountain region, the issues – political, economic, social, religious and educational – and their assimilation with the Christian Filipinos of the lowlands. The book finishes with an analysis of their likely destiny should the Philippines achieve their independence from the US.

In the high mountains and jungles of the northern Philippines lived a quarter of a million people, Malayan, Indonesian and Pygmy. These so-called ‘non-Christians’, differing widely in life and custom, were little touched by Western-style culture and government until the twentieth century. Taming Philippine Headhunters (1934) reveals the special system of government worked out by the American colonial authorities and Filipino leaders to approach the peoples of the mountain region, the issues – political, economic, social, religious and educational – and their assimilation with the Christian Filipinos of the lowlands. The book finishes with an analysis of their likely destiny should the Philippines achieve their independence from the US.