Lord Acton is credited with the trenchant observation that the special difficulty in researching and writing modern contemporary history is that such history concerns ourselves. While this is no doubt true, the historian of recent times enjoys the benefits conferred by nearness to his focus of interest. Some argue, of course, that whatever the benefits of proximity, they are nullified by the lack of the “historical perspective” which only emerges with the passage of time. At stake is the more fundamental question whether the writing of recent history should be undertaken at all.

In this fourth volume of the Ciclo de Vargas series the Brazilian historian Hélio Silva provides us with additional proof of his intrepidity in the face of overwhelming odds by attempting a documentary history of the events during the crucial year in Brazilian history, 1931, which led to the outbreak of the “Constitutionalist” rebellion in the state of São Paulo against the fledgling revolutionary provisional government of Getúlio Vargas. The author has collected documents relating to the momentous events following the 1930 revolution, during which its leaders struggled to lay the bases for a “New Republic.” What emerges from Silva’s skillful editing, explanatory narrative, and accompanying documents is perhaps the most authentic picture of these events which has yet appeared.

The documents which he has chosen to reproduce in this volume are for the most part unedited, as they were drawn from the archives of the most important political figures in Brazil of that era, Getúlio Vargas and his alter ego Osvaldo Aranha. To the best knowledge of this reviewer, Silva has been the only person outside the Vargas family circle—and certainly the only historian—to consult the personal archive of Getúlio Vargas. That he has done so fairly, responsibly, and professionally places those interested in the history of Brazil deeply in his debt. As a result of his efforts, we shall now be able to take up the writing of recent Brazilian history with a perspective which even the passage of time might not have brought.