Making Waves: The Continuing Portuguese Adventure

by Mary Soderstrom

From early modern history to contemporary global influences, this resource captures the legacy of Portugal and its people. From adventurous sailors in search of spices more than 600 years ago and the pioneering city plans that rebuilt Lisbon—and the definition of a modern city—to being the first European nation to outlaw slavery, this historiography details the expansive Portuguese legacy that reaches such places as India, Brazil, Newfoundland, and San Diego. A detailed look at the peaceful overthrow of a dictatorship and the profound societal change that resulted from the Carnation Revolution of 1974 is also included.

Genres: Portugal, Nonfiction, History

208 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2011

About the author

Mary Soderstrom is a Montreal-based writer of fiction and non-fiction whose next book--her 19th--Before We Forget: How Remembering Will Get Us Through the Next 75 Years will be published by Dundurn Press in March 2026. It follows in the footsteps of Against the Seas: Saving Civilizations from Rising Waters (Dundurn, 2023) and Concrete: From Ancient Origins to a Problematic Future {October 2020. University of Regina Press.}

In 2019 the UofRegina Press published her Frenemy Nations: Love and Hate between Neighbo(u)ring States which is an examination of why ten pairs of political entities--ranging from the formerly two Vietnams, through Haiti and the Dominican Republic and Vermont and New Hampshire to the US and Canada--are so similar in some respects, yet so different.

As Katia Grubisic writes about it in the Montreal Review of Books: "Soderstrom is interesting because she is interested... Her frequent asides – musings on language, geology, genetics, twins, what have you – are sharp and illuminating, sparking reflection and lightening the informational load."

Her Road through Time: The Story of Humanity on the Move (University of Regina Press) was published in 2017 to laudatory reviews in Quill & Quire, Publishers' Weekly and The Library Journal which called it "a must-read for all interested in society, past and present."

Her most recent work of fiction is River Music, a novel published by Cormorant Book in May 2015. In fall 2013 Oberon Press brought out her collection of short stories, Desire Lines: Stories of Love and Geography. Her last non-fiction book was Making Waves: The Continuing Portuguese Adventure (Véhicule Press, 2010) . Cormorant published her novel The Violets of Usambara in 2008. About a Canadian politician who is kidnapped in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, it is particularly relevant now in an era of terrorism around the world.

Her blog about books draws on her decades of reading, writing, reviewing and discussing: Not So Solitary a Pleasure (http://notsosolitaryapleasure.blogspo...) And for nearly a decade she has maintained an eclectic chronicle about politics, nature, cities and life, Recreating Eden (http://marysoderstrom.blogspot.com)

Reviews

[Mary Soderstrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just came across a thoughtful review of the book in the Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies. Professor Ryan Tucker Jones found it an "engaging, enjoyable read – take it with you on the plane to any place the Portuguese once sailed and you will receive a
quick orientation into the continued vibrancy of the world-spanning culture they created."

[Brigitte Gemme · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up in a used bookstore in preparation for a trip to Portugal and enjoyed reading it. The book isn't so much focused on domestic Portuguese history as it is on the "wake" of the country's adventures abroad. Though published less than 15 years ago, one wonders whether the author's analysis of Portugal's colonial footprint would be written the same way today (2023), notably with regards to slavery and the way in which Portuguese men treated Indigenous or otherwise local women. The author's thought seems to be that the Portuguese were better (or at least less bad) than many other nations as colonizers, but is that it? This aside, I found the book informative and well-written. I am dinging a star because I would have appreciated a stronger thread through the narration. It felt as though the author might be a little shy to say outright what she thought about the waves made by Portugal.