Ambeth R. Ocampo

The cause of history writing owes Ambeth Ocampo a great deal. By his extraordinary use of a relatively new genre, he has rescued history from the cold, forbidding halls of academe. He has made of history something amusing, entertaining . . . as immediate as a newspaper headline, as relevant as a rapper’s song.”– …

Ambeth Ocampo always makes historical figures come alive, blemishes and all, and with his curious eye, make our heroes very human and not the mythic figures that we want to make of them. [He] makes history enjoyable reading while at the same time makes it anchor us to the past and therefore, and hopefully, prepares us …

Hindsight is the lowest form of intelligence–except for historians. In this handy collection of Ambeth Ocampo’s “Looking Back” column pieces, the popular historian digs deep and looks back carefully at events, places and important people who make up the country’s history.