Brazilian Authoritarianism: Past and Present

Review
“A daring and urgently needed book by one of the most creative public intellectuals in the Global South, Brazilian Authoritarianism is impossible to put down. Lilia Schwarcz’s book is a master class on how authoritarianism fuels racism and inequality and thrives on a violent, whitewashed history. Brilliantly argued and with an impassioned plea to unshackle the present, it resonates at a time when democracies are under siege worldwide.”―João Biehl, Princeton University
"In this tour de force, leading Brazilian thinker Lilia Schwarcz guides us through Brazil’s past and present to explain how the country's more recent authoritarian turn is not a new trend at all. Critical and nuanced, Brazilian Authoritarianism shows us that behind the facade of cordiality and the fallacy of racial democracy, Brazil draws on a long history of slavery, violence, intolerance, racism, and deep social inequalities."―Ana Lucia Araujo, Howard University
How Brazil’s long history of racism and authoritarian politics has led to the country’s present crises and epidemic of violence
Brazil has long nurtured a cherished national myth, one of a tolerant, peaceful, and racially harmonious society. A closer look at the nation's heritage, however, reveals a far more troubling story. In Brazilian Authoritarianism, esteemed anthropologist and historian Lilia Schwarcz presents a provocative and panoramic overview of Brazilian culture and history to demonstrate how the nation has always been staunchly authoritarian. It has papered over centuries of racially motivated cruelty and exploitation―sources of the structural oppression experienced today by its Black and Indigenous population. Linking the country’s violent past to its dire present, Schwarcz shows why the social democratic left was defeated and how Jair Bolsonaro ascended to the presidency.
Schwarcz travels through five hundred years of colonial history to consider Brazil’s allegiance to slavery, which made it the last country to abolish the system. She delves into eight elements that pervade Brazil’s problematic culture: racism, bossism, patrimonialism, corruption, inequality, violence, gender issues, and intolerance. But Schwarcz also argues that Brazil’s future is not absolutely hopeless. History is not destiny, and even as the nation experiences its worst crises ever―social, political, moral, and environmental―it has the potential to overcome them.
A stark, revealing investigation into Brazil’s difficult roots, Brazilian Authoritarianism shines a light on how the country might imagine a more hopeful path forward.