Customer Reviews

The Confederados: Old South Immigrants in Brazil

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book derives from a conference about the Confederados and it occasionally suffers from the attempt to edit together a group of papers that frequently overlap. With this one caveat, I must say that The Confederados is fascinating. Despite the occasionally kludgey back and forth references to other essays and chapters (and the repetition of material), the Dawsey's have assembled a fine book that examines the impact and legacy of post-Civil War immigrants from the U.S. South to Brazil; it also points out the contributions of other immigrants from the North and Europe who came to Brazil at roughly the same time. Especially interesting is the memoir of a Confederada, written late in her life, but rich in details about her childhood exodus from Alabama and the difficulties in getting to and starting a new life in Brazil. Also interesting is the study of the preservation of Southern dialect by the Confederados.

Neither an historian nor a scholar, but as a fluent Portuguese speaking American (born in Portugal) who spent half a century, both as a long time resident in Brazil and the southern United States, collecting data and contacting descendents of the Confederate migration to Brazil after the Civil War, I find this book the first real scholarly effort on an interesting, rather forgotten epic, though minor, of American history. Factually it appears correct to what I know of the people involved, then and now, from 1865 up to 1974 when I last left Brazil. However, as as academic production I find it lacks a certain feel for the "humanity" of those involved: the happiness and the tragedy, the bits and pieces of human interest that history (as do descendents changing actuality to pleasanter visions!} prefers not to speak of. There was as much sadness in the migration as there was happiness, as much failure as there was success. The human feeling, I find, is missing. Otherwise, this is a tremendous and most commendable effort. on a subject long forgotten. Perhaps, though small, one of the largest planned emigrations from the United States in its history.

This book is an excellent reference resource for those researching Civil War history and the migration of Southerners to Brazil after the War.
The author describes well those who migrated, the difficulty of resettlement and the long term affects of the relocation.

Verna Bonner