Brazil: 500 years of complex and enthralling cultural history. Soccer, Copacabana, Carnival, Favelas, the Amazon-what is behind the prevailing images? Brazil's history spans far more-from the Portugese colonial rule to the aspiring Great Power. The volume provides for the first time a comprehensive cultural history of this diverse country, which has layed claim to a special status for 200 years. It challenges official explanations and offers unadorned views of Brazil. These depict a society containing many contradictions, one that wrote 'Order' and 'Progress' on its national flag.

Ursula Prutsch (Prof. Dr.) lehrt Geschichte Lateinamerikas und der USA an der Universität München. Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte sind Brasilien und Argentinien. Enrique Rodrigues-Moura (Prof. Dr.) lehrt am Institut für Romanistik der Universität Bamberg und forscht im Bereich der iberoromanischen transatlantischen Beziehungen.