The Reign of Greed (El filibusterismo): A New Translation (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798274867801)

When Reform Fails, Revolution Burns

Thirteen years after his "death," Crisóstomo Ibarra returns to the Philippines-but the idealistic reformer is gone. Now disguised as Simoun, a wealthy jeweler and confidant to the Spanish Governor-General, he has abandoned hope for peaceful change. His new mission: ignite a violent revolution by deliberately worsening colonial oppression until the people have no choice but to rise up.

Driven by the bitter memory of his destroyed life-his father murdered, his beloved María Clara imprisoned in a convent, his dreams of reform crushed by corrupt friars-Simoun manipulates the corrupt from within. He fans the flames of greed, smuggles weapons, and plots a catastrophic attack that will topple the Spanish regime and free his country.

But revenge is a dangerous master. As Simoun's terrible plan reaches its climax, the lines between justice and vengeance, liberation and destruction, blur into darkness.

Published in 1891 in Ghent, Belgium, this searing sequel to Noli Me Tángere marks José Rizal's transformation from hopeful reformer to disillusioned revolutionary. Darker, more violent, and tragically prophetic, The Reign of Greed exposed colonial brutality with such force that it was banned by Spanish authorities-and inspired the revolution that would cost Rizal his life five years later.