This website was created not only to prevent historical erasure, but also to encourage critical thinking.
Reading trains you to think beyond headlines, slogans, and trends. It gives you a chance to expand your imagination historically and even morally. And the paradox is the more you read, the sharper your mind becomes, not weaker.
We believe in the power of your human mind, and we invite you to use that gift with us, for the Bangsamoro community.
We advocate for long-form contents.
Studies and observations across education and media show that the rise of social media, followed by the emergence of generative AI, has shortened our attention spans.
The world now glorifies speed over depth.We read the summary, not the entire book. We watch the reel not the entire movie. We look for hacks instead letting our character develop along with the deep work. ourselves. We form opinions based on the headlines, mot the entire story. By this, we are slowly disabling our minds for critical thinking and deep reflections.
While junk of information and generative AI tools can be helpful, overreliance on them can dull the one of our most important human abilities: thinking for ourselves.
This website takes a different position.
We advocate for long-form content because we still believe in the ability of the human mind, when given proper resources, time, and skills, to think critically, ethically, and independently.
Now that Bangsamoros also have their own government, the youth are in need of these skills more than ever.
Recommend Books
Below are curated readings arranged by type, which you may explore:
Bangsamoro History
Understanding Bangsamoro history is essential to resist the attempts to undermine and erase our side of story.
A Nation Under Endless Tyranny
by Salah Jubair
A record of resistance written against forgetting and a reminder that peace without justice is only silence. (Highly recommended)
Muslim Rulers and Rebels by Thomas M. McKenna
A study of power that exposes how Moro leadership and rebellion were shaped, not chosen, by history.
The Moro Armed Struggle in the Philippines: The Nonviolent Autonomy Alternative by Muslim Macapado
A challenge to the myth that violence came first, when exclusion came long before it. (Highly recommended)
Muslims in the Philippines by Cesar Adib Majul
A foundational refusal to let Muslim Filipinos be treated as an afterthought to a nation built around them, not with them.
On Writing
Writing is the highest form of thinking.
If you cannot write your thoughts clearly, you likely do not understand them fully.
These books can help you sharpen how you articulate your ideas so you can share them more effectively:
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
A defense of honest writing in a world obsessed with sounding smart.
On Writing Well by William Zinsser
A lesson on writing craft.
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White
This book reminds that a strict reminder that carelessness in language leads to carelessness in thought. (Highly recommended)
On Moral Philosophy
How you think says more about you than your job or social status. It is something no one can take away from you. And the highest goal of intellect should be morality.
For Beginners in Philosophical Readings
The Elements of Moral Philosophy by James Rachels An introduction to ethics that teaches you how to think, not what to think.
On Bullsh*t by Harry G. Frankfurt
A short warning about how indifference to truth slowly empties public life.
Arguably by Christopher Hitchens
Essays that show disagreement can still be principled, informed, and sharp.
The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
A book that unsettles because it describes power as it is, not as it should be.
For Advanced Reader
Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
A confrontation with the moral habits you did not choose but still obey.
A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume
An exploration on how we think, act and feel.
The Life of the Mind by Hannah Arendt
A meditation on thinking itself and what happens when people stop doing it.
Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
A slow, difficult book that rewards patience and punishes shortcuts.
Bonus: Fiction and Memoir
If you find the books above overwhelming and prefer something that eases the mind while still offering insight, novels and memoirs matter too.
We recommend novels by Khaled Hosseini:
The Kite Runner
A Thousand Splendid Suns
And the Mountains Echoed
While these are not about the Bangsamoro, they offer powerful reflections on oppression, memory, exile, and injustice, experiences that resonate across cultures
Join the Conversation
If you have book recommendations, please comment below.recommended books, please comment below so that we, people behind this website, and other visitors can explore it too.