Overview
This classic work is must reading for anyone who would understand Brazil and Latin America, past and present. First published in 1985 and now expanded to include a new chapter on women in Brazilian history, the book explores the social, political, economic, and intellectual currents that shaped nineteenth-century Brazil and whose reverberations continue to be felt throughout contemporary Brazilian society.
Placing her findings in a rich comparative context with regard to U.S. history, Emilia Viotti da Costa concentrates on crucial moments in Brazilian history to shed light on a number of vexing questions: Why in a nation so rich in material resources is there so much poverty? How was slavery abolished without bloodshed in a country where slaves had represented the main labor force for almost four hundred years? Why did self-described liberal elites twice lead the country toward authoritarian regimes? In exploring these and other puzzles, she uncovers the realities behind many of the persistent myths surrounding the Brazilian empire.
Editorials
From the Publisher
This is one of the best introductions to Brazil in English that one could want.Bulletin of Hispanic Studies
Perhaps the most thoughtful analysis of nineteenth-century Brazil.
Latin American Research Review
A thoughtful interpretive history that helps us to understand both the Brazilian empire and the republic that replaced it.
Journal of Interdisciplinary History
[These essays] reveal a critical mind searching for the links between ruling classes and those ruled, between elites and masses.
American Historical Review
All facets of the 'empire'—politics, economics, culture and society—are skillfully interwoven and excellently researched.
Times of the Americas