Brazil on the Rise: The Story of a Country Transformed (review)

In this modest volume, the author sets out to summarize the dramatic transformation of Brazil over the last half century from a sleepy peripheral nation, albeit a "sleeping giant", to an emerging world power. The author argues that the last fifty years have been the singularly most transformative period in the history of Brazil since the time of European contact and settlement in the 1500s. The book examines the country's half-century transformation since the mid-1900s from a wide range of social, economic, environmental, and political perspectives. The author, a journalist and long-time correspondent for Newsweek and the New York Times in Brazil, has covered the country for nearly 40 years and lived here for fourteen of them.

In ten chapters, the book addresses key factors in the nation's transformation. Throughout the text the author puts issues in a meaningful historic context briefly, yet effectively. Early economic development and the boom-bust cycles that have characterized Brazil's economy for most of its history are detailed in the first chapter as is the political evolution of the country from a Portuguese colony, to a monarchy, and then to a republic in the late 1800s. Its early halting steps as a democracy in the first half of the 20th century are chronicled as is the military dictatorship which finally ended in 1985 when democratic rule was restored.

The next four chapters examine social and cultural issues. Chapter two discusses some of the country's most salient social and cultural characteristics. The widespread concept of jeito or "pull" to facilitate the movement of paperwork, to eliminate the inconvenience occasioned by the police at a traffic stop, or ease any number of bureaucratic or personal is discussed in some detail, as are the role of family networks, social class, and the importance, or lack thereof, of the rule of law. An examination of religious practices and as well as sexual mores and attitudes conclude the chapter. Race is confronted head-on in the third chapter where the myth of Brazil as "a racial paradise" is addressed. The country's history of slavery and the social practices and customs that stemmed from it are detailed here. Useful comparisons with the experience of African-Americans in the United States put the Brazilian experience in a more meaningful context. A frank discussion of the current socio-economic status of Afro-Brazilians is illuminating. The country's "tropical lifestyle" is highlighted in chapter four where the author focuses on three signature characteristics of Brazil's popular culture: the beach scene, Carnival, and soccer. In the suceeding chapter the author argues that the last half century has been a time of intense artistic innovation and development in Brazil. Here the influence that Brazilian musicians have had on music in Europe and North America is emphatically noted.

Economic issues are the focus of the next three chapters. The transformation of Brazil into an agricultural and industrial world power in a few short decades is nothing short of phenomenal and the sixth chapter documents this rise. It argues that the vision and the political will to stabilize the Brazilian economy, to open it to outside markets and competition, and to maintain consistent and responsible economic policies through changing political administrations has paid immense dividends for the nation. Energy is one of the pillars of Brazil's present and future prosperity and chapter seven examines the nation's three key energy sectors; petroleum, ethanol, and hydropower. The Amazon region is the focus of chapter eight where its economic significance as well as its role in the national psyche is plumbed.

The book's final two chapters examine the county's politics. Brazil's successful efforts to ascend to the world stage as a player in international diplomacy, trade, finance, and sport are presented in chapter nine. The last chapter, ten, updates the nation's contemporary political landscape to...