This collection of essays challenges the prevailing academic and activist orthodoxy that sees the history and politics of the region as simply reflections of the unceasing resistance by Muslims against the Philippine state and the Christian Filipino majority. It lays out a number of revisionist arguments that highlight, among other things, the enduring interconnections between Muslims and Filipinos, the peculiar nature of state formation and economic development in Muslim Mindanao, the dilemmas of Muslim separatism, and the value of comparing Mindanao provinces, as well as Muslim Mindanao and equally marginalized areas like Okinawa.