A sharp study of how the Philippine state took root in Mindanao, read through Cotabato and Davao from the American period up to the eve of Martial Law. Abinales shows that state building, not just ethnicity or ideology, set the rules of local power. Manila’s authority grew through accommodation with provincial strongmen, a pattern that helps explain why governance in the south feels both resilient and fragile. The book traces how settler migration and land competition transformed Davao’s social order, while figures like Salipada Pendatun and Alejandro Almendras illustrate how local elites worked with, and against, the center.