During February 1986, a grassroots revolution overthrew the fourteen-year dictatorship of former president Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. In this book, Jose V. Fuentecilla describes how Filipino exiles and immigrants in the United States played a crucial role in this victory, acting as the overseas arm of the opposition to help return their country to democracy. A member of one of the major U.S.-based anti-Marcos movements, Fuentecilla tells the story of how small groups of Filipino exiles—short on resources and shunned by some of their compatriots—arrived and survived in the United States during the 1970s, overcame fear, apathy, and personal differences to form opposition organizations after Marcos's imposition of martial law, and learned to lobby the U.S. government during the Cold War. In the process, he draws from multiple hours of interviews with the principal activists, personal files of resistance leaders, and U.S. government records revealing the surveillance of the resistance by pro-Marcos White House administrations. The first full-length book to detail the history of U.S.-based opposition to the Marcos regime, Fighting from a Distance provides valuable lessons on how to persevere against a well-entrenched opponent.| Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Preface Chapter 1. The First Exiles: Escaping from the Homeland Chapter 2. Rough Landings: Surviving the First Years Chapter 3. Into the Land of the Fearful: Dread and Apathy Chapter 4. The Big Divide: Differences Hindering Unity Chapter 5. Martial Law and Beyond: How the Dictator Usurped Power Chapter 6. Early Organizing: Conflicting Opposition Groups Chapter 7. Learning How to Lobby: How the United States Fought the Exiles Chapter 8. Down with Rhetoric!: Turning to Radical Means Chapter 9. The War of Words: Winning Hearts and Minds Chapter 10. Reviving the Opposition: Arrival of an Exile Hero Chapter 11. Reviewing the Decade: Adding Up the Losses and Wins Chapter 12. "It's Not All Greek to Me": Bringing the Fight to the Homeland Chapter 13. A Man for Many Seasons: The Leader Who Led the Movement Epilogue Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Appendix A: MFP Chapters and Chairpersons (as of 1979) Appendix B: Report on a Successful Demonstration Appendix C: Chronology of Events Index | "A well-researched, engaging narrative of the Filipino exile movement in the United States to topple the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines. Fuentecilla is gifted with a journalistic eye for human-interest stories of resistance and activism that will keep readers enthralled."—Augusto Fauni Espiritu, author of Five Faces of Exile: The Nation and Filipino American Intellectuals
"A book that triggers memories—some good and some not so bracing."—The FilAm

| A native of the Philippines, Jose V. Fuentecilla emigrated to the United States in the 1960s. He has lived and worked as a journalist and editor in New York City.