Brazil's living museum : race, reform, and tradition in Bahia /

Regional history has been, for a number of years, a popular approach to the study of Brazil. Historian Romo (Texas State Univ.-San Marcos) takes up the banner of regional studies while injecting new life into the genre. The northeastern state of Bahia serves as the "living museum" through which Romo explores racial thought. Bahia's importance to Brazil is well documented, as it was the colony's first capital. It later served as a destination to over 4 million African slaves--a number representing almost 20 percent of the African slaves exported to Brazil. Due to its colonial importance and racial makeup, Bahia developed a dual identity as both an epicenter of national identity and a symbol of the nation's backwardness. Romo traces this duality from the abolition of slavery in 1888 to the installation of the military regime in 1964. She focuses on subject areas including the arts, education, and medical science, and defines each one's influence on the concept of race. Romo's prose is clear and concise. The book contains extensive notes and a thorough bibliography. Historians as well as other social scientists, such as anthropologists, will find this work useful and rewarding. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries. M. D. Davis University of North Alabama