About the book "Pretty Ugly": Not all Americans are Ugly Americans. Some Americans are pretty. Some Americans are ugly. But most Americans are a combination of both. They're pretty ugly. And that is the title of this book, the 23rd of the Make My Day Series, Pretty Ugly.. This book is notable because of a special section occupying almost one-third of the book, that features Claro M. Recto, deemed one of the greatest Filipinos who ever lived. Here in articles on his life and works, Larry Henares extols him as the alpha and the omega of the best in the Filipino, and gives us five of his greatest speeches, on foreign policy, economic policy, nationalism and the constitution - which are more relevant as the years go by.. And then the fun begins when Larry Henares resumes his role as a witty, knowledgeable, and profound commentator on the contemporary scene. In Hisory and Economics he writes of the Filipino immigrant Dagohoy and his mastery of American history; the force of falsehoods, the epic Long March, gold, historical myths, air pollution and judicial activism, armor plating the car - and one of the most beautiful pieces ever written "The Brightest Star in all the Heavens"! In Entertainment and the Arts, he writes to an obscene caller, he writes a very funny piece on the invention of Golf, he write about Pelvis Presley, Michael Buble the new Sinatra, Lani Misalucha the Songbird, the late Sculptor Solomon Saprid, and the movies of Quark Henares and Roberto Benigni - and the Words made Flesh that dwell among men. In Health and the Amenities, he writes of your real name (not your baptismal name), durian, stress and heart attacks, and what happens when the Lord responds to your prayers. In Personalities, he speaks fondly of his doctor, a justice friend, his wife's great-grandfather, and scathingly of the beetle-brow beetle brained US president, the asshole Belgian Ambassador, and a convicted rapist-torturer-murderer. Read, laugh, cry, and get yourself an education from an educated man. --------------------------- Dr. Hilarion M. Henares Jr., known as Larry Henares, is a graduate of Ateneo de Manila, University of the Philippines, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an engineer, economist, educator, big businessman, writer, civic leader, public servant, and hobbyist (guns, books, amateur radio and electronics). He is a writer known for his essays on economics, history, art and culture, a front page columnist in the pre-martial law Manila Times and the most widely read column in the Philippines, according to all surveys, the daily "Make my Day" in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, after the EDSA revolt. -----------------------------------------