Reddit reviews A Concise History of Brazil (Cambridge Concise Histories)

For history suggestions, don't forget /r/history

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Looking quickly at their excellent reading/watching list, https://www.reddit.com/r/history/wiki/recommendedlist

I see this:

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Latin American/Caribbean History

General

• *Born In Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America: Fourth Edition By John Charles Chasteeen. This edition was published in 2016 and features an improved set of maps and illustrations.
  
• *The Oxford Handbook of Latin American History By John C. Moye
  
• *Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent: 2009 edition By Eduardo Galeano.
  
• Latin America: Regions and People By Robert B. Kent.
  
• The Cambridge History of Latin America By Leslie Bethell.
  
• Afro-Latin America: 1800-2000 By George Reid Andrews.
  
• Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of a Rainforest Civilization By Arthur Demarest is one of the best introductions to Mayan history.
  
• Ancient Mexico and Central America: Archaeology and Culture History By Susan Toby Evans.
  
• In From The Cold: Latin America's New Encounter With the Cold War by Gilbert M. Joseph and Daniela Spencer.
  
• Revolution and Revolutionaries: Guerrilla Movements in Latin America By Daniel Castro.
  
• The History of Latin America: A Collision of Cultures By Michael Eakin explores 500 years of Latin American history and looks at the economic, political, social and cultural evolution of its nations and their peoples.
  
• The Oxford History of Latin American Economics By Jose Antonio Ocampo and Jaime Ros. This is a good introduction to understanding the development of economics and policy in Latin America.
  
• Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence by Robert Harvey.
  
• Politics of Latin America: The Power Game: 4th Edition by Harry E. Vandon and Gary Prevost looks at the political history of Latin America and delves into the sociopolitical issues that have influenced Latin America from the ground up as well emerging issues and new problems facing Latin America in the age of globalization. Vandon and Prevost
  
  

  South America
  

  
  

• A Concise History of Brazil By Boris and Sergio Fausto.
  
• Short History of Brazil, A : From Pre-Colonial Peoples to Modern Economic Miracle By Gordon Kerr.
  
• A New Economic History of Argentina by Gerardo Della Paolera and Alan M. Taylor.
  
• The Argentina Reader by Gabriella Nouzeilles and Graciela Montaldo.
  
• A History of Chile: Enduring Editions by Luis Galdames.
  
• The Paraguay Reader: History, Culture, Politics by Peter Lambert and Andrew Nickson.
  
• The Ecuador Reader by Carlos de la Torre and Steve Striffler.
  
  

  Central America
  

  
  

• Power in the Isthmus: A Political History of Modern Central America By James Dunkerley.
  
• Simon Bolivar: A Life By John Lynch explores the life of the extraordinary man who liberated six countries from the Spanish Empire made a lasting impression on the politics and society of Central America still tangible today.
  
• The History of Panama by Robert C. Harding covers a century of history, economy and culture in Panama.
  
• The Costa Rica Reader by Steven Palmer. Covers the history of Costa Rica.
  
• Columbia Before Independence: Economy, Society and Politics under Bourbon Rule by Anthony McFarlane.
  
• Democracy and Socialism in Sandinista Nicaragua By Harry E. Vandon and Gary Prevost.
  
  

Here, u/JewbaccaIsReal. 3 recomendations, all well-reviewed and updated (oldest is from 2016)

https://www.amazon.com/Brazil-Biography-Lilia-M-Schwarcz/dp/0374280495
(The translated edition is newly launched, so there are no reviews yet, but the brazilian one has 4,5 stars)

https://www.amazon.com/Brazil-Troubled-Rise-Global-Power/dp/0300216971/

https://www.amazon.com/Concise-History-Brazil-Cambridge-Histories/dp/1107635241

Being a brazilian also carries the burden of knowing a lot of books about each period and only just a few who talks about the whole scenario. I think one of the best still is "History of Brazil" (História do Brasil), by Boris Fausto. As far as I've looked, they published the concise version, which might be good to get started (since the regular version is thick like a brick! But it's great nonetheless). Some others that might be interesting are: "Formation of Contemporary Brazil (Formação do Brasil contemporâneo), by Caio Prado Jr. He was one of the first biggest marxists of the country; "Roots of Brazil" (Raízes do Brasil), by Sergio Buarque de Holanda. He was one of the first biggest culturalists of country. If you wish for some books about any specific period of our timeline, just let me know.

First of all, thank you so much for the compliment. Brazil is a really interesting country and has a lot of unique things, specially due to the heterogeneity of the population.

I'm not really sure about books in English, but there's an author "Boris Fausto", whose book is the first that comes to mind. This book, published by USP (the most important university in Brazil) is the one I have. I haven't read all of it, due to being busy lately, but I believe it gives a good feeling about Brazil, even though he doesn't cover some cultural aspects and movements, like the Modern Art Week of 1922. So, if I had to indicate someone, it would be him. His "[A Concise History of Brazil]"(https://www.amazon.com/Concise-History-Brazil-Cambridge-Histories/dp/1107635241/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8) is available in English and the comments on Amazon seems to be positive. So I would check it out, for starters. I don't know about any foreign historians or geopolitical writers that cover Brazil in depth.

I believe that, if you read his book and did some research about the culture, you'd get a firm grasp of Brazil.