According to the editor of this valuable collection, Brazil’s past ‘ ‘ lacks unifying threads of meaning . . ., those dramatic episodes, those vibrant leaders, those bloody revolutions, or those red-hot controversies that mark the history of Spanish America” (p. 3). Yet most of the essays in this volume, selected to offer differing points of view on a variety of topics, give the impression that there has been a great deal of drama in the Brazilian past, that certain lasting problems and controversies give continuity to Brazilian history, that there were and still are leaders who have captured the interest of the people, that there has been violence and will be again. Some of the articles, in fact, seem to have been chosen with the aims of bursting academic bubbles, though the editor is careful to accept the implications of his own selections.

We are all familiar with certain postulates of Brazilian history: a relative lack of struggle, a mild form of slavery, a curious political stability. These related assumptions, often attributed to a peculiar gentleness of the Brazilian psyche, have here been questioned. James L. Busey zeroes in on the theses of nonviolence, comparative political stability, and noninvolvement of the military in politics. His mere listing of historical events provides convincing refutations of these assumptions—especially in the light of current conditions (September 1969). Although the editor is open to new opinions, he seems receptive to Mary Wilhelmine Williams’ now traditional view that slavery in Brazil was much less oppressive than in the United States, while offering an excerpt from Stanley J. Stein’s Vassouras as evidence to the contrary. This reviewer hopes that the work of several modern scholars, notably Emilia Viotti da Costa, will soon convince most historians that Stanley Stein’s portrait of Brazilian slavery is realistic.

Other controversial topics considered here are the personalities and political qualities of Dom Pedro II, Viscount Mauá, and Getúlio Vargas. Eulogistic essays are balanced by others more critical. Three differing analyses of the Paraguayan War, articles concerning art, culture, urban growth, and the achievements of Rui Barbosa at the Hague Conference in 1907 broaden the scope of the volume.

The problems of Brazil are dominant themes. An excerpt from Joaquim Nabuco’s O Abolicionismo, first published in 1883, is at times remarkably relevant to the contemporary Brazilian condition. The problems of large landholdings and rural poverty, aired by Nabueo as by other abolitionists, are alluded to in subsequent articles by Eobert J. Alexander, Leslie Lipson, Timothy F. Harding, and Dom Helder Câmara in collaboration with other Brazilian bishops. Five final selections of the book are particularly relevant to the current Brazilian crisis. The last, for example, is an analysis of Brazilian foreign policy by José Honório Rodrigues, who ends with a plea for his country’s right to determine the course of its international relations without interference from the United States or domination by conservative interests. The book offers valuable material for courses in modern Brazilian history.