Order and Progress: Brazil from Monarchy to Republic

Trilogia Casa Grande e Senzala #3

by Gilberto Freyre, Rod W. Horton (Translator)

This volume continues the great study of Brazilian civilization by Gilberto Freyre, Latin America’s most distinguished social historian, which began with The Masters and the Slaves and was followed by The Mansions and the Shanties.

Whereas in the earlier books Freyre described the rural patriarchy of Brazil during its flourishing years as a colony, the slow breakdown of that society, and the rise of urban culture, in Order and Progress he chronicles his country’s transition from monarchy to Republic—a transition characterized by the introduction of a new form of government but not a new social order.

From the first decisive steps toward the abolition of slavery in the early 1870’s to the end of the First World War, every thread of Brazil’s cultural fabric is examined: from industrialization, education, literature, art and architecture, economics, and politics, to religion, sorcery, folk mores, and the sights and sounds of the city streets. Freyre describes the evolving paradox of racial ease and social rigidity. He charts the effects of European immigration, the economic hegemony of São Paulo, and the burst of industrial development after 1885. Yet he makes it clear that in spite of growth and relative prosperity, great accomplishments in internal improvements, and increasing influence from the United States, the Republic failed to alter traditional social relations, failed especially to improve the lot of freed slaves and industrial and agricultural workers, and never, in fact, succeeded in shedding the vestiges of its monarchical past.

The two concepts, “Order and Progress”—the motto emblazoned on the Brazilian flag since 1889—run throughout this absorbing and colorful portrait of a nation in transition, exemplifying as they do the combination of strong government and patriarchal family structure that Freyre sees as the major factor in Brazil’s emergence as a modern democratic society.
—from the front flap of the dust jacket

Includes a Glossary, a Supplementary Reading List, Additional Recent Books Published in Brazil, and an Index
This is a pre-ISBN edition

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Brazil, Sociology

422 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Gilberto de Mello Freyre (Melo Freire, in the standard orthography; Mello Freyre is archaic and proscribed by law; March 15, 1900 – July 18, 1987) was a Brazilian sociologist, anthropologist, historian, writer and congressman. His best-known work is a sociological treatise named Casa-Grande & Senzala (variously translated, but roughly The Masters and the Slaves, as on a traditional plantation). Two sequels followed, The Mansions and the Shanties: the making of modern Brazil and Order and Progress: Brazil from monarchy to republic. The trilogy is generally considered a classic of modern cultural anthropology and social history, although it is not without its critics.

Reviews

[Cicero Marra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sensação que deixa "Ordem e Progresso" é a de que o Brasil ainda não havia terminado -- em 1957, quando foi escrito e até hoje -- a missão iniciada no 13 de maio de 1888. Na casca nos tornamos modernos: nos amontoamos em cidades do porte de São Paulo e criamos uma casta política profissional. Mas por dentro, nos faltou e ainda nos falta a energia moral e espiritual que dão movimento à engrenagem da civilização.

[Jonathan Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to follow and out of date but still a must read to understand Brazil