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The Practice of Politics in Postcolonial Brazil: Porto Alegre, 1845-1895 (review)

Roger Kittleson's book makes an important original contribution to Latin American and Brazilian history, in both its presentation of new material and its perspective. Nineteenth-century political and economic history continues to be the great uncharted territory of Latin American and Brazilian studies. In this insightful regionally based work, Kittleson analyzes political change and continuity in the relatively small and sparsely settled, ranching economy of Porto Alegre. He argues that in this context the transition from liberal to scientific or positivist politics in the late nineteenth century effectively restructured both politics and society, along with ideologies of national identity. While both liberalism and positivism were antidemocratic, Kittleson contends that the transition signified a profound cultural and political shift: it created a political opportunity for an incipient incorporation of plebeians into the formal political realm. This book walks the lines between cultural history, social, history, and institutional history and makes important contributions to each. It will definitely make an important impact on the literature of Brazilian and Latin American history.