Bedford Public Library

Brazil, a biography, Lilia M. Schwarcz and Heloisa M. Starling

eng

illustrationsmaps

index present

non fiction

Brazil

1035771186

Lilia M. Schwarcz and Heloisa M. Starling

a biography

Written by two leading historians, Brazil: a biography is a sweeping and absorbing portrait of Brazil from its origins to the twenty-first century. For many Americans, Brazil is a land of contradictions: vast natural resources and entrenched corruption; extraordinary wealth and grinding poverty; beautiful beaches and violence-torn favelas. Brazil received more than 40 percent of the African population that was stolen from the continent, and was the last country in the Western world to aboloish the slave system. Brazil is larger than the contiguous United States and occupies a vivid place in the American imagination, yet it remains largely unknown. -- Inside cover

Introduction: "Brazil is just nearby" -- First came the name, and then the land called Brazil -- The sugar civilization: bitter for the many, sweet for a few -- Tit for tat: slavery and the naturalization of violence -- Gold! -- Revolt, conspiracy and sedition in the tropical paradise -- Ship ahoy! a court at sea -- Dom João and his court in the tropics -- The father leaves, the son remains -- Independence habemus: instability in the First empire -- Regencies, or the sound of silence -- The second reign: at last, a nation in the tropics -- The end of the monarchy in Brazil -- The first republic: the people take to the streets -- Samba, malandragem, authoritarianism: the birth of modern Brazil -- Yes, we have democracy! -- The 1950s and 1960s: bossa- nova, democracy and underdevelopment -- On a knife edge: dictatorship, opposition and resistance -- On the path to democracy: the transition to civilian power and the ambiguities and legacy of the military dictatorship -- Conclusion: history is not arithmetic