Brazil : essays on history and politics / Leslie Bethell

Includes bibliographical references

Introduction : Why Brazil? An autobiographical fragment, page 1 -- 1. Brazil and Latin America, page 19 -- 2. Britain and Brazil (1808-1914), page 57 -- 3. The Paraguayan War (1864-70), page 93 -- 4. The decline and fall of slavery in Brazil (1850-88), page 113 -- 5. The long road to democracy in Brazil, page 147 -- 6. Populism in Brazil, page 175 -- 7. The failure of the Left in Brazil, page 195

'Published to mark his 80th birthday, this volume consists of seven essays by Leslie Bethell on major themes in modern Brazilian history and politics: Brazil and Latin America; Britain and Brazil (1808-1914); The Paraguayan War (1864-70); The decline and fall of slavery (1850-88); The long road to democracy; Populism; The failure of the Left. The essays are new, but they draw on book chapters and journal articles published (mainly in Portuguese) and public lectures delivered in the ten years since his retirement as founding Director of the University of Oxford Centre for Brazilian Studies in 2007. In an autobiographical introduction (Why Brazil?) Professor Bethell describes how, from the most unlikely of backgrounds, he became a historian of Brazil and how he came to devote much of his long academic career to the promotion and development of Brazilian studies in UK (and, to a lesser extent, US) universities.' -- Details from publisher