Who is the Filipino? What makes him so? National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin answers these questions in Culture and History, a groundbreaking treatise on Philippine history and Filipino identity, and how the tools of our native and adopted cultures have shaped both. With profound, thought-provoking, timeless essays that take Filipino readers back in time to rediscover their roots, as well as challenge preconceived notions on the meaning of culture and history and the intricate makings of the Filipino psyche, Culture and History exhibits Nick Joaquin vivid, nostalgic, ingenious prose and keen insight that only a brilliant writer and perceptive historian can deliver.

"Our culture and history may be said to be a process converting a mix of cabbages and kings into something different. And the novelty is this nation-in-the-making called the Philippines, this identity-in-progress called the Filipino." -- Nick Joaquin