HISTORY
471
HISTORY OF BRAZIL
Critique of Warren Dean's With Broadax and Firebrand (1997)
http://www.history.umd.edu/Faculty/DWilliams/Fall08/HIST471/deanreview.html
Imagine yourself to be an undergraduate student who has just completed an upper-level survey of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Brazilian history, taught at the University of Maryland in the Fall 2008. Over the course of the semester, you and your student colleagues covered a lot of big themes in Brazilian history -- political organization and participation, state-building, liberalism, (under)development, nationalism, authoritarianism and redemocratization, slavery and emancipation, social organization and stratification, cultural production, race relations, gender politics, and regionalism.
Animated by your survey of these big themes, write a concise, critical review of Warren Dean's With Broadax and Firebrand: The Destruction of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997).
You review will naturally include a reasonable amount of summary of Dean's argument and his evidence. That is, you will need to synthesize the history that Dean tells about the Atlantic Forest. You will need to identify the strategies that Dean adopts to tell this history.
A high-quality review, however, will go further than summary. It will offer a measured critique of the book, assessing how well Dean makes his argument; how well he uses his evidence; and, how well his conclusions work and why.
| HINT: In crafting your review, asking yourself how and where Broadax and Firebrand departs from the themes, materials, and questions that we have covered in HIST 471. Ask how and where Broadax and Firebrand extends and compliments what we have covered. What does these divergences and connections mean for your understanding of this big book about some big themes in Brazilian history told in a big way. |
Each critique should be no more than 1000 words (typed, double-spaced, reasonable font and margins). Do not forget page numbering.
The review is due no later than the review session, to be held on December 15, 2008, 10:15am to 1:15pm in FSK 0102.
All students are asked to write by hand and sign the Honor Pledge.
"I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this assignment/examination."
For additional information on the Student Honor Pledge, visit http://www.umd.edu/honorpledge.