The Brazilian Empire

“[Includes] an essay on women that did not appear in the 1985 edition. The fact that this book had been republished once again and is still widely used and cited testifies to the enduring quality of Viotti da Costa’s insights and the significance of her work. . . . Republication of this fine pioneering work is a fitting tribute to a historian who has helped transform the history of the Brazilian Empire and the history of Latin America over the past four decades.” — Latin American Research Review

“The Brazilian Empire remains the indispensable analysis of the all-important Brazilian nineteenth century.” — Thomas Skidmore, Brown University

“Anyone with an interest in the Brazilian nineteenth century will be familiar with [Viotti da Costa’s] trenchant, well-informed clarity. . . . This is one of the best introductions to Brazil in English that one could want.” — Bulletin of Hispanic Studies

“Perhaps the most thoughtful analysis of nineteenth-century Brazil. . . . Viotti da Costa provides a cohesive picture of the social, political, and intellectual currents that have shaped the nation.” — Latin American Research Review

“A thoughtful interpretive history that helps us to understand both the Brazilian empire and the republic that replaced it.” — Journal of Interdisciplinary History

“There is a refreshing quality to Emilia Viotti da Costa’s collected essays, which span six decades of the Brazilian empire’s social, economic, and political life between independence (1822) and the collapse of its neocolonial political system in 1889. . . . Together the essays are more than an introduction to the Brazilian empire. . . . They reveal a critical mind searching for the links between ruling classes and those ruled, between elites and masses.” — American Historical Review

“A well-written compilation . . . which brings forth the texture of 19th-century (1822–1889) Brazilian life. All facets of the 'empire' — politics, economics, culture and society — are skillfully interwoven and excellently researched. . . . An excellent book, worth reading by specialists as well as the interested public.” — Times of the Americas