A Concise History of Brazil (Cambridge Concise Histories)

A dense and tedious walk through Brazilian history. Perhaps I hoped for too much, and maybe this is more appropriate for the professional historian, but detailing the historiography of the work, continually backing up general points with myriad statistics, and referencing future events before formally introducing them all come together to make this book totally inappropriate for the novice to Brazilian history.I’m not sure whether there exists a better read for someone wanting an overview of Brazil's history, with perhaps more of a focus on the "characters" of history (even if this goes against modern historiographical sensibilities). Suffice it to say if, like me, you wanted to learn about Brazil within the confines of an entertaining read this is definitely not the book for you. Copious typing and grammatical errors (including words simply missing) throughout the book doesn’t help endear this book to the reader either as they trudge through reams of statistics while struggling to understand key figures and movements in Brazilian history. Avoid unless you are a professional.