In an important 1987 article periodizing the history of the peasantry in Northeast Brazil, the Mexican historian Guillermo Palacios stressed the need for “modern studies that adequately analyze” the region’s Quebra-Quilo revolts of 1874 – 75. Since that time, several studies have been produced in Portuguese, notably those of Hamilton de Mattos Monteiro (1995) and Luciano Mendonça de Lima (2001). In English, Kim Richardson’s 2008 doctoral dissertation, now published as the book under review, stands alone among the monographic literature.
As Richardson demonstrates, the Quebra-Quilo revolts had roots in a complex mix of causes, including economic crisis, Catholic insecurity, political rivalry, and the imposition of “modern” methods on customary practices, such as new systems of military recruitment and weights and measures. The latter factor gave the movement its name, “break the scales,” as the revolts consistently resisted projects to replace traditional means of weighing and measuring produce and goods with...
