Synopses & Reviews
Focusing on one of the most fascinating and debated figures in the history of modern Brazil,
Stringing Together a Nation is the first full-length study of the life and career of Candacirc;ndido Mariano da Silva Rondon (1865andndash;1958) to be published in English. In the early twentieth century, Rondon, a military engineer, led what became known as the Rondon Commission in a massive undertaking: the building of telegraph lines and roads connecting Brazilandrsquo;s vast interior with its coast. Todd A. Diacon describes how, in stringing together a nation with telegraph wire, Rondon attempted to create a unified community of andldquo;Braziliansandrdquo; from a population whose loyalties and identities were much more local and regional in scope. He reveals the work of the Rondon Commission as a crucial exemplar of the issues and intricacies involved in the expansion of central state authority in Brazil and in the construction of a particular kind of Brazilian nation.
Using an impressive array of archival and documentary sources, Diacon chronicles the Rondon Commissionandrsquo;s arduous construction of telegraph lines across more than eight hundred miles of the Amazon Basin; its exploration, surveying, and mapping of vast areas of northwest Brazil; and its implementation of policies governing relations between the Brazilian state and indigenous groups. He considers the importance of Positivist philosophy to Rondonandrsquo;s thought, and he highlights the Rondon Commissionandrsquo;s significant public relations work on behalf of nation-building efforts. He reflects on the discussionsandmdash;both contemporaneous and historiographicalandmdash;that have made Rondon such a fundamental and controversial figure in Brazilian cultural history.
Review
andldquo;Stringing Together a Nation examines the life of one of the most fascinating, and debated, figures in modern Brazil, Candacirc;ndido Rondon, by melding traditional and new research approaches into an informal and clear narrative style of history. It brings to the English-speaking academic public a welcome deconstruction of recent Brazilian historiography on nation building, indigenous people, and state action. The research for Stringing Together a Nation is groundbreaking and brings to light archival materials that will change the way we understand how Brazilians discovered Brazil in the early decades of the twentieth century.andrdquo;andmdash;Jeffrey Lesser, author of Negotiating National Identity: Immigrants, Minorities, and the Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil
Review
andldquo;This amazing story of dedication and persistence elucidates the life project of one of Brazilandrsquo;s major figures of the early twentieth century. Rondon persevered against politicians in Rio as much as against the natural challenges of Brazilandrsquo;s vast interior, stoically suffering the demands of safari-loving Theodore Roosevelt in the meantime. Ironically, the telegraph lines he built, like his Positivist ideological beacon, were both out of date by the time he completed his work.andrdquo;andmdash;Thomas Holloway, University of California, Davis
Synopsis
This analysis of the career of Candido Rondon, an army officer who founded and directed Brazil's Indian Protection Service, provides an avenue to deconstruct recent Brazilian historiography on nation building, indigenous people, and state action.
About the Author
Todd A. Diacon is Head of the History Department of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is the author of Millenarian Vision, Capitalist Reality: Brazilandrsquo;s Contestado Rebellion, 1912andndash;1916, published by Duke University Press.