Through a riveting narrative history, author John Russell Frank chronicles the events of his family's half-century on America's frontier in the Philippines-war, adventure, colonialism, the heartbreaking deaths of family members, businesses ravaged by WW II, and internment in brutal Japanese prison camps. It is an epic story about his family's triumph and tragedy in a strange land, a story of how they came to absorb and become a part of another culture. The narrative flows from a substantial amount of intimate archival material: historically rich letters, war diaries, photographs, memoirs, and oral and video histories from the family's experiences in the Philippines. He shares a way of life and a time-period unknown or forgotten by the present generation-pivotal years of America's past. In the process, the author discovers his own roots.