Cousins Of Color

Luzon, Philippines, 1899. Immersed in the chaos and brutality of America’s first overseas war of conquest and occupation, Private David Fagen has a decision to make - forsake his country or surrender his soul. The result: a young black man in search of respect and inclusion turns his back on Old Glory - and is hailed a hero of the Filipino fight for independence.

Negro blood is just as good as a white man’s when spilled in defense of the American Way, or so Fagen believed. But this time his country seeks not justice but empire. Pandemonium rules Fagen’s world, anarchy the High Sheriff, and he knows every time he pulls the trigger, he helps enslave the people he came to liberate.

Not just an account of an extraordinary black solider caught in the grip of fate and circumstance, Cousins of Color tells the story of Fagen’s love for the beautiful and mysterious guerilla fighter, Clarita Socorro, and his sympathy for her people’s struggle for freedom. Cousins also chronicles Colonel Fredrick Funston’s monomaniacal pursuit of victory at any cost and his daredevil mission to capture Emilio Aguinaldo, the leader of the Philippine revolution. Other characters include the dangerously unstable Captain Baston, particularly cruel in his treatment of prisoners and Sergeant Warren Rivers, the father Fagen never had.

Himself a Vietnam combat veteran, author William Schroder hurtles us through the harsh realities of this tropical jungle war and provides powerful insight into the dreams and aspirations of human souls corrupted and debased by that violent clash of cultures and national wills. Based on actual events, David Fagen’s pursuit of truth and moral purpose in the Philippine Campaign brings focus to America’s continuing obsession with conquest and racism and provides insight into many of today’s prevailing sentiments.

William Schroder is a Vietnam veteran, infantry officer, helicopter pilot, businessman, sailor and author of several essays, short stories and screen plays. Cousins of Color is his first book-length effort. Growing up in the politically charged '60s, for decades Bill was an outspoken critic of our nation's continuing negative preoccupation with racial themes and issues. Inspired by Dr. Willard B. Gatewood's Smoked Yankees and the Struggle for Empire, Bill spent four years researching and writing about the Philippine Campaign, a shameful period in our nation's history most Americans would like to ignore.

Currently living in the Pacific Northwest, Bill is researching a second historical novel based on the life of Martha Mason, a mulatto woman of property who battled the white power structure during the turbulent years following the Civil War.