Discussing the political elites from regional, national, and military standpoints are, respectively, Joseph L. Love and Bert J. Barickman, Conniff, and McCann. The economic elites, notably businessmen and industrialists, are analyzed by Steven Topik and Eli Diniz. The masses are considered in chapters by Eul Soo Pang, Thomas Holloway, and Michael Hall and Marco Aurelio García. Sam Adamo views the historical situation of blacks and mulattos in Brazil. In the final section, examining connections between the elites and masses, Robert M. Levine writes about how the former perceive the povo, Joseph Straubhaas looks at the mass media; and Fred Gillette Strum ex-amines religion in Brazil. The editors have included a general introduction, an epilogue focusing on Brazil in the late 1980s, and a glossary.

Michael L. Conniff, a professor of history at the University of New Mexico, is the author of Urban Politics in Brazil: The Rise of Populism, l925–1945 (1981) and other books. Frank D. McCann is a professor of history at the University of New Hampshire whose books include The Brazilian-American Alliance, 1937–1945 (1973).