Description
Book SynopsisAn analysis of the career of Candido Rondon providing an avenue to deconstruct recent Brazilian historiography on nation building, indigenous people, and state action
Trade Review“This amazing story of dedication and persistence elucidates the life project of one of Brazil’s major figures of the early twentieth century. Rondon persevered against politicians in Rio as much as against the natural challenges of Brazil’s vast interior, stoically suffering the demands of safari-loving Theodore Roosevelt in the meantime. Ironically, the telegraph lines he built, like his Positivist ideological beacon, were both out of date by the time he completed his work.”—Thomas Holloway, University of California, Davis
“Stringing Together a Nation examines the life of one of the most fascinating, and debated, figures in modern Brazil, Cândido Rondon, by melding traditional and new research approaches into an informal and clear narrative style of history. It brings to the English-speaking academic public a welcome deconstruction of recent Brazilian historiography on nation building, indigenous people, and state action. The research for
Stringing Together a Nation is groundbreaking and brings to light archival materials that will change the way we understand how Brazilians discovered Brazil in the early decades of the twentieth century.”—Jeffrey Lesser, author of
Negotiating National Identity: Immigrants, Minorities, and the Struggle for Ethnicity in BrazilTable of ContentsIllustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. Stringing Togeth a People and Place 9
2. Building the Lonely Line, 1907-1915 19
3. Working and Living on the Lonely Line 53
4. The Power of Positivism 79
5. Living with Others on the Lonely Line 101
6. Selling a Person and a Product: Public Relations and the Rondon Telegraph Commission 131
7. The Legacy of the Lonely Line 155
Notes 163
Bibliography 207
Index 225
