19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Imminently Readable Introduction to the Nation of Brazil--its history, politics, economy, and culture, June 30, 2006
In planning a trip to Brazil, I was looking for a readable history of Brazil's past 100 years to give me an understanding of the nation, its history, and its challenges. Fernando Henrique Cardoso's book appeared to be a perfect choice: it combines history, and social and economic analysis with a personal biography of one of Brazil's finest presidents.
Like most autobiographies, The Accidental President of Brazil is not an objective work. Cardoso does defend his policies and programs, especially his work in developing Brazil's modern currency--the Real. Cardoso, to his credit, did prove to be an effective inflation fighter who instilled some discipline into the samba economy of Brazil. He also strengthened the country as a democracy and won kudos from foreign leaders, the IMF, and the World Bank.
However, Brazil's problems are far from over. Parts of its major cities--the notorious favelas--are ungovernable, and are giving the country a terrible reputation abroad. Poverty and unemployment, which go hand in hand with urban slums, also plague the country. Cardoso draws an interesting analogy between the favelas and the Bronx and Harlem, New York, in the 1970s. Harlem, he argues, looked ungovernable in 1975, but now it is a center of urban renewal and culture. President Clinton even has an office there. In short, if we take a long term view of the favela problem, he explains, positive change is a true possibility. After all, property within a stone's throw of Copacabana beach cannot be slum for ever.
The inevitability of progress sounds like the positivist philosophy of Brazil's founders, and in fact, Mr. Cardoso's grandfather was one of a group of military officers who overthrew Emperor Dom Pedro II and founded the modern state. Cardoso, though, is far too complex to fall into a positivist trap. As an academic, he's often more concerned about explaining Brazil's problems and possibilities than establishing his place in history with a laudatory biography. He employs self-deprecating humor throughout the book and is as quick to point out his failures as his successes. The more I read the book, the more I came to admire the man. I also now know much more about the world fifth largest country, and the biggest economy in Latin America than I did before reading the book. Will Brazil be the next India? Read this book and judge for yourself. Do Brazil!
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A personal and national history - and a good story, July 16, 2006
Cardoso hails from Brazil's first family, and he weaves a very readable history of Brazil through the stories of his grandfather, father and family friends (and enemies). The author evolves from professor to exile to president, forging Brazil's economic reform policies for a decade and staking his own claim on the country's history.
A left-leaning sociologist-turned-economist, Cardoso became famous in the 1970s for the dependency theory (dependencia), trying to explain the relations between the U.S. and Latin America (and first- and third-worlds more generally). But as finance minister in the 1990s, he authored quite un-socialist policies of the Plano Real, breaking inflation through budget cuts, currency reform and attracting foreign investment. He identifies himself with the New Left of Clinton and Blair.
This (I hope) will be effective in the classroom as a personal introduction to a fascinating and important country, and as an insider's perspective on the challenges and responses in globalization-era Latin America. Even allowing for the risk of poetic license in autobiographers and co-writers, the book at times reads like an adventure, with stirring characters, dramatic crises and indefatigable, inveterate hope.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Entertaining and Insightful Memoir, March 3, 2006
This entertaining and insightful memoir brings together the best of Cardoso's insights as sociologist, politician, president and elder statesman. It is must reading for everyone interested in Brazil's past or concerned about its future.
Fernando Henrique Cardoso began his career as a struggling Marxist sociologist ruminating on stuffy topics such as "the objective possibility of the negation of the situation." After two terms as President of Brazil, he understandably finds academic sociology dull and dogmatic. With a little help from journalist Brian Winter, he has written a fascinating book about his own experiences with the people who run Brazil. He is uniquely qualified because he has known most of the personalities who have shaped Brazil's destiny for half a century, and even longer if we include those he met around the dinner table as a child.
See my full review on www.infobrazil.com
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