Brazil: The Once and Future Country [Hardcover]

Marshall C. Eakin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312162006 | ISBN-13: 978-0312162009 | Publication Date: June 15, 1997 | Edition: 1

As the most comprehensive introduction to Brazil available in English, Brazil: The Once and Future Country shows Brazil to be a land of the marvelous and the mystical, the sublime and the tragic. Marshall Eakin describes a country defined by paradoxes: immense wealth surrounded by widespread poverty, a modern industrial infrastructure alongside an outmoded agricultural system, a largely white South and a Northeastern coast that is overwhelmingly of African descent. Eakin chronicles Brazil’s development from its origins in the sixteenth century, when it was created as a by-product of European imperial expansion, to the present day. He takes the reader from the hovels of São Paolo to the pleasure palaces of Rio de Janeiro and all places in between to show the rich cultural mix that is Brazil. Brazil: The Once and Future Country is a fascinating read that anyone interested in Brazil will want. It is also the perfect book for the traveler, armchair or otherwise, interested in this endlessly fascinating country.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Vanderbilt University historian Marshall C. Eakin provides an authoritative survey of Latin America's largest country. His broad and insightful overview reveals Brazil's many facets, including its racial melting pot (which often startles foreign visitors), economic challenges ("Brazil remains a rich country full of poor people"), and (in the book's most entertaining chapter) its carnival culture. Although Brazilians have plenty to worry about--rain forest depletion, a relatively high rate of HIV infection, and the most unequal distribution of wealth of any country in the world--Eakin suggests that Brazil is on the verge of entering "into the ranks of the great powers."

From Booklist

To explain historical and contemporary Brazil for the general reader in a concise yet comprehensive format is not a small feat, but the task is expertly accomplished by a Vanderbilt University history professor. The vastness of the fifth-largest country in the world extends beyond simply its physical size to include a complexity of public and personal life--it is "a nation of paradoxes," in other words. Eakin's knowledge of and love for his subject combine to produce a riveting introduction to the basic events and trends in Brazilian history, politics, economy, society, and culture. From its days as a Portuguese colonial outpost, to its first century of independence with an emperor at its governmental head, to "the darkest and most sinister years in Brazilian history" (from the late 1960s to the early 1970s under military rule), to the present democratic days, Brazil's fascinating story is summarized but not diminished. Eakin concludes his informed account with prescriptions on how the country might realize its potential for movement out of the Third World and into the First. Brad Hooper

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1 edition (June 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312162006
• ISBN-13: 978-0312162009
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,082,274 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Overview, June 27, 2002

By 

richard_t "richard_t" (Overseas) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Brazil: The Once and Future Country (Paperback)

Such a pleasure to read a book by an academic. Eakin is a historian who understands Brazil. The book is not perfect, but it is solid, useful, and interesting. First, it is well-organized: before offering thematic chapters of deeper insight, Eakin provides a quick 60-page history from the fifteenth century to 1997. This is useful both for newcomers to become familiar with the Brazilian context and for others to review the legacies of colonization and peaceful independence, the strange tales of Kings Joao and Pedro, slavery and abolition, the tragi-comic Vargas, and the military regimes. Brazil has a rich and fascinating history, and Eakin does well to place its recent iterations in a long-term context.

Next come four thematic chapters on the land, people, politics, and economics, each divided into useful essays so a reader can quickly read about topics from soccer and carnaval to the convoluted political machinations of the 1980s. Broad themes underlie the discussion: the sheer magnitude of the slave trade (that dwarfed that in the U.S.) and how it shaped society, the social trends that created the most unequal distribution of wealth in the world, and the series of export products (gold, sugar, rubber, and coffee) that contributed in waves to social development.

On the other hand, readers will occasionally stumble over clunkers, particularly when comparisons are drawn with the U.S: "Much like New York City, Rio is a city whose era has passed"; "To be considered white in the United States, one cannot have any non-white ancestors"; the claim that an "estimated" 90 percent of Brazilian adults play the lottery. The economic analysis is helpful, but never profound, and there are occasional head-shakers: "In both [Brazil and the U.S.] deficit spending and foreign debt have made it difficult to marshal the resources to address fundamental social ills."

The discussion of race relations -a deeply complicated subject that Eakin navigates with some success- is thoughtful. "Brazilians discriminated, but on the basis of color, and there were many shades. North Americans discriminated on the basis of race, and there were but two"; "How is it possible to build a movement around consciousness of being black when most non-whites do not see themselves as black and do not wish to be considered black?"

As other reviewers have noted, the book is in need of a real update. Most of the research ends about 1995, although there are a few references to events as late as 1997. The decade of the 1990s has been a fascinating period for Brazilians, with the FHC administration, the Real Plan, the Argentine collapse, and the effects of globalization. A good book, in need of a some new text. It could also benefit from a few more maps and some historical photos.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for an initial understanding.. somewhat outdated, May 8, 2002

By 

Alejandro D. Gonzalez "david gonzalez" (palo alto, ca) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Brazil: The Once and Future Country (Paperback)

if it only had been more recent, it would be excellent. A shame that it was written just before the '99 crisis. Great book. The author makes a conscious effort to document the historical and economic reasons that shaped Brazil's evolution.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Panoramic Survey, March 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Brazil: The Once and Future Country (Paperback)

Eakin certainly provides an in-depth, panoramic survey of Brazil that is quite interesting. As to "Brazil being the country of the future," that's really a tired old cliche. Brazil is what it is, and it's not a world power. As far as Eakin's book goes, it covers most everything except for the very important category of music -- for that I would recommend "The Brazilian Sound" (Temple University Press).