Chapters of Brazil's Colonial History, 1500-1800 (Library of Latin America Series)

One of the classics of Brazilian history is now available in English for the first time. A master of Brazil's ethnographic landscape, Joao Capistrano De Abreu provides a masterful blend of social history and vivid descriptions of dramatic events. The book opens Brazil's rich, fascinating past to the general reader and gives students access to a great turning point in historical scholarship .

In its choice of topics, this book is simliar in many ways to other history books from the early 20th Century. A lot of attention is paid to battles, and to catalogues of geographical data or descriptions. It's not an easy book to start with, if you're interested in understanding modern Brazil or its history.

But the descriptions of people and of the social climate, especially in the early and later parts of the book, are surprisingly fresh. There are some especially nice touches in the last chapter of the book, such as a few stanzas from a popular song written from the point of view of a famous steer. Also, the author has a wicked sense of humor that made me laugh out loud in a few places.

Capistrano de Abreu's sentences are shorter than typical for academic historians of a hundred years ago, with more punch and less purple prose. The translation is fluid and easy to read. The previous reviewer is right, though, about the sorely-felt absence of a map. I tried to follow along using a wall-sized folding map (1:5 million scale) and was able to muddle through, though many of the historical place-names didn't appear on my modern version. In any case, most of the passages where the place-names come fast and furious are less essential for enjoying the book.

With many books written by American or other authors, this book has its own flavor: a brazilian flavor. Written by a Brazilian, he tells a story that does not embelish or take sides. A rather fine book!!

As a new student to Brazilian history, I found the book easy to read, and interesting enough to finish in just about one week. The author moves chronologically through the period in only 11 chapters with topics such as Discovery, The First Conflicts, Fighting the Dutch, and Settling the Interior. I feel I now know as much about early Brazilian history as most Brazilians do. Having a world atlas with DETAILED maps of Brazil nearby is a MUST while reading. Throughout the book there are hundreds of references to various rivers, mountain ranges and coves, but not a single map. This book is 270 pages long.