Lilia M. Schwarcz and Heloisa M. Starling give a portrait of Brazil in such a way that you find it readable and yet very confusing. Its not their fault, its Brazil. The country embodies such a mass of contradictions, such combinations of opposites and is so rich in diversity that to claim a simple history would be impossible. The work however is to be commended, as it gives a comprehensive birds eye view of the many struggles that made the history of Brazil.

The continual struggles between regions, cultures, peoples and the rich and the poor is a constant theme. The unity also comes out in all the cultural panoply of a country both new and unique as well as international and connected.

The book is a must, to have attempted this mamoth task alone makes it worth reading. But to be plain about it, the writing is straightforward and easy to read. The argument is a very liberal one that seems to lament at many points that Brazil could not have been like the United States in structure and fortune. That it does not wallow in the sadness of its tragedy is a definite plus. Instead we have an optimism and a vitality to the work that mirrors the history of Brazil itself.