Brazil's Second Chance: En Route Toward the First World (Century Foundation Books (Brookings Hardcover)) [Hardcover]

Lincoln Gordon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2001 | ISBN-10: 0815700326 | ISBN-13: 978-0815700326 | Edition: First Edition

Brazil is currently in a critical phase of a decades-long transformation from a patrimonial society--based on the cultivation and export of sugar and coffee--to a modernized industrial and service economy with effective democratic governance. It is the worlds fifth largest nation-state in area and population, and ranks eighth in total economic output. Since World War II, Brazil has been a leader in international trade governance and negotiation, playing an important part in development of the GATT and the WTO. Currently, the country is a major factor in negotiations toward a hemispherewide Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). However, Brazils political record in the past half century has been erratic and it has struggled with high inflation and balance-of-payment deficits. In this major new work, a former American ambassador to Brazil examines the social, political, and economic history of the country since the 1930s and discusses whether Brazil is now ready to assume a place as an important participant among First World nations.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lincoln Gordon is a guest scholar in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution. He served as U.S. ambassador to Brazil from 1961-66 and as assistant secretary of state for Inter-American Affairs from 1966-68. A former president of Johns Hopkins University, he is the author of several books, including Eroding Empire: Western Relations with Eastern Europe (Brookings, 1987).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 243 pages
• Publisher: Brookings Inst Pr; First Edition edition (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815700326
• ISBN-13: 978-0815700326
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,390,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an amazingly well documented, brasilianist piece, January 27, 2003

By 

Alejandro D. Gonzalez "david gonzalez" (palo alto, ca) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brazil's Second Chance: En Route Toward the First World (Century Foundation Books (Brookings Hardcover)) (Hardcover)

Given Gordon's background, he is THE authority (and luckily THE brasilianist) to write such a piece.

I was a AMAZED by the ammount of good documentation and multiple sources quoted in the text from almost every possible source. Only improvement here is that it seems that the wave of info available on the Internet caught the author by surprise (it could have been much more up-to-date).

One can hardly expect a foreigner to have a deeper understanding of brazil's history than the person who was the US ambassador for several years, and a self-declared brasilianist. A grain of salt comes from the fact that pro-US, pro-trade behaviors and positions are an obvious consequence of Gordon's origin.

It's a shame that the version I read wasn't written after Lula's election and his first day as a president, but I learned more about Brazil in this book than in any other one. Very good job showing data and facts to support the positions and analyzing the underlying facts that took brazil to the position where it is now.