"This brilliant monograph has long reigned as the premier treatment on the origins of Brazilian independence. It has no equal and richly deserves a new readership." -- Thomas Skidmore, Brown University

"This attractive edition should make the Luso-Brazilian world of the late eighteenth century more accessible to English-language readers, especially those interested in the empires of the Atlantic World." --Mary Karash, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan

Kenneth Maxwell holds the Nelson and David Rockefeller Chair in Inter-American Studies at the Council of Foriegn Relations. He has taught at Yale, Princeton and Columbia Universities and the University of Kansas. Dr. Maxwell's recent books include Naked Tropics: Essays on Empire andOther Rogues (2003), The Making of Portuguese Democracy (1995) and Pombal: Paradox of the Enlightenment (1995).