Stringing Together a Nation: Candido Mariuno da Silva Rondon and the Construction of a Modern Brazil, 1906–1930 by Todd A. Diacon (review)

160 TheLatinAmericanist Fall 2005 Dado a que gran parte de las operaciones militares guatemaltecas fueron ilegales y secretas, la CEH se enfrenta a obsthculosde falta de evidencia concreta tales como documentos e informes de operaciones. Por lo tanto, el informe de la CEH se deja llevar de relatos de sobrevivientes y ex militares que no necesariamente relatan 10s acontecimientos exactos. La organizaci6n numerada de conclusiones en el texto no siempre sigue un patr6n temhtico. Esto puede hacer un cuan dificil el us0 y lectura del texto. Sin embargo, la CEH ha hecho un esquema detalladoy breve a su vez que comprendela aclaracidnde eventos en Guatemala durante su guerra civil a travts de causas y efectos al nivel socio-politico.A travts de esta investigaci6n extensa, la CEH ha rot0 con el patr6n de silencio y olvido que tanto impide la reconciliaci6n del estado guatemalteco. Ademhs, su funcidn va mhs all6 de clarificar y denunciar el pasado violento de Guatemala. La CEH ha logrado movilizar la conciencia nacional hacia la inclusidn equitativa de 10s sectores sociales y el cambio institucionalencaminadohacia la reparaci6npaulatinadel estado. Por lo tanto, Conclusiones y Recomendaciones es una lectura esencial para analizar el proceso de cambios socio-politicos en Guatemala luego de la Guerra Civil. Tania N. Domenech Departamento de CienciaPolitica Universityof CentralFlorida Stnnging TogetheraNation:CandidoMariunodaSilvaRondon and the Constructionof a Modern Brazil, 1906-1930.By Todd A. Diacon. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004, p.228, $21.95. Before the construction of a telegraph line that ventured into the hinterland of Brazil, the majority of Brazil’s people lived along the coast. During the nineteenth century, the vast inland regions of Brazil were unaffected by the political and economic developmentstaking place in the urban and rural areas along the coast.The adventof theAmazon rubberboom (1888-1912), however , convincedinvestorsin Rio de Janeiro of the need to be able to contact their rubber exporters in Amazonas without having to endure lengthy and expensivetravel. The need to connect Rio de Janeiro with the resources of Amazonas, plus the government’s need to keep communicationsopen with the region, led the Bra- Book Reviews 161 zilian army to commission the construction of a new telegraph line that would connect the coast with the hinterland. Chdido Mariano da Silva Rondon (1865-1958), a Brazilian army officer and designer of Brazil’s current policy towards indigenous people, was responsible for linking Brazil through the construction of a vast telegraph line. His commission, the Strategic Telegraph Commission of Mato Grosso to Amazonas (Comiss20de LinhasTelegriificasEstratCgicasde Mato Grossoao Amazonas),was commonlyknown as the Rondon Commission. In his enlighteningand well-researchedstudy of the Rondon Commission, Todd A. Diacon, head of the history department of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, explains how this commission attempted to bring a new national unity to Brazil by incorporating the indigenous peoples of Amazonas into the Braziliannationalfabric.While most scholarsof Brazilianhistory have commonly asked why Rondon’s blueprint for nation building was so successful, Diacon asks why scholars believe he was so successful.Throughresearch performedin the Indian Museum (Museu do fndio) in Rio de Janerio, which has a section devoted to the Rondon Commission, and the Brazilian History Museum (Museu Hist6rico do Exkrcito), Diacon has uncovered valuable information about the effects of the Rondon Commission on the indigenous peoples of Amazonas as well as important statistical information on what exactly was accomplished by the commission . Established in 1907, the Rondon Commission, while constructingthe firsttelegraphline acrossAmazonas,explored,documented , surveyed,and mapped the huge territories of the Brazilian north-west. As the commission built the line and surveyed never-before-documented areas of the nation, they attempted to encourage colonizationand settlementof the region. The Rondon Commission was an example of how the presence of the state gradually grew in intensity during the early years of the Old Republic (1889-1930). Diacon explains the problems that arose due to the lack of unity in Brazil with interesting narrative and relevant analysis. The Paraguayan War (1865-1 870), for example, is an excellent illustration of how Brazil’s poor communication with its borders created problems.Diacon explainsthat it was Brazil’s dismalperformance in the war that added to the perceived need for change. The Paraguayans had cut Brazilian...