Bandits and Liberals, Rebels and Saints: Latin America since Independence by Alan Knight

Abstract

meticulous readings of original written documents and newspapers, as well as a close viewing of posters, paintings, and photographs located in archives large and small inside and outside Brazil. In a chapter describing relations between Brazil and Uruguay, Grinberg shows how tensions mounted pursuant to Uruguay’s emancipation decree of 1842. Slaves who crossed the border into Uruguay gained their freedom; they could not be re-enslaved if they returned to Brazil because of an 1831 Brazilian law that banned the importation of slaves to Brazil. Planters in the southernmost province of Rio Grande do Sul condemned their own government for failing to prevent slave flight and protect their property (ownership of slaves). Instead of following traditional approaches to the study of diplomacy, Grinberg points to the need to “forge a social history of international relations” (131). Such a plea, alongside the path-breaking insights shared in this volume, could not be more relevant.