El Filibusterismo (The Subversive) is the second novel by José Rizal (1861–1896), national hero of the Philippines. Like its predecessor, the better-known Noli Me Tangere, the Fili was written in Castilian while Rizal was traveling and studying in Europe. It was published in Ghent in 1891 and later translated into English, German, French, Japanese, Tagalog, Ilonggo, and other languages. A nationalist novel by an author who has been called "the first Filipino," its nature as a social document of the late-nineteenth-century Philippines is often emphasized. For many years copies of the Fili were smuggled into the Philippines after it was condemned as subversive by the Spanish authorities. Characters from the Noli (Basilio, Doña Victorina, Padre Salvi) return while new ones are introduced: Simoun, the transformed Ibarra; Cabesang Tales and his struggle for justice; the nationalist student Isagani; the Indio priest Padre Florentino. Through them the colonial milieu is expanded—its officialdom, education, legal system, power plays, social patterns—and seen anew as context for conflict and insight. Translator Soledad Lacson-Locsin is the first to have worked from facsimile editions of the original manuscripts. The result is the most authoritative and faithful English translation to date, one which attempts to preserve in English the cadence and color of the original.

José Rizal has a good claim to being the first Asian nationalist. An extremely talented Malay born a hundred years ago in a small town near Manila, educated partly in the Philippines and partly in Europe, Rizal inspired the Filipinos by his writing and example to make the first nationalist revolution in Asia in 1896. Today the Philippines revere Rizal as their national hero, and they regard his two books, The Lost Eden (Noli Me Tangere) and The Subversive (El Filibusterismo) as the gospel of their nationalism.The Subversive, first published in 1891, is strikingly timely today. New nations emerging in Africa and Asia are once again in conflict with their former colonial masters, as were the Filipinos with their Spanish rulers in Rizal's day. The Subversive poses questions about colonialism which are still being asked today: does a "civilizing mission" justify subjection of a people? Should a colony aim at assimilation or independence? If independence, should it be by peaceful evolution or force of arms?Despite the seriousness of its theme, however, The Subversive is more than a political novel. It is a romantic, witty, satirical portrait of Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines at the end of the nineteenth century, written in the tradition of the great adventure romances. The translation by Leon Ma. Guerrero, Philippine ambassador to the Court of St. James, conveys the immediacy of the original, and makes this important work available to a new generation of readers. His translation of The Lost Eden is also available in the Norton Library.

An incendiary novel that brings to light the long-drawn-out indignities suffered by ordinary Filipinos at the hands of the Spanish friars and statesmen in 19th century Philippines. Thirteen years after the events of Noli Me Tangere, the idealistic intellectual Crisostomo Ibarra resurrects as the cruel and fabulously wealthy jeweler, Simoun. He sows the seeds—and the guns—for the armed uprising against the Spanish through his influence on the Governor General and his social clout in Manila’s upper echelons. His nefarious plans bring together several young idealistic university students—among them Basilio, whose mother Ibarra helped bury thirteen years before, and Isagani, the poet and passionate debater. In the battle for the soul and independence of the Philippine nation, which will prevail once and for all—peaceful reforms or armed struggle? In this second novel, Jose Rizal continues to wrestle with the need for reforms for the betterment of his countrymen. This yields some dark and difficult answers that brought about not only his execution, but also the first nationalist revolution in Asia.

Classic story of the last days of Spanish rule in the Philippines.