«Evocative . . . Schwarcz and Starling adopt what they call a biographical approach: an attempt to tell the collective stories of the generations of Brazilians that have lived . . . They achieve this with flair in their rich evocations of colonial and imperial Brazil . . . Rich and absorbing.»

Patrick Wilcken, The Times Literary Supplement

«A thoughtful and profound journey into the soul of Brazil...The Brazil that emerges from this book is, indeed, a fascinating, complex, multicoloured, contradictory and challenging organism, more like a living being than a political, cultural and geographical entity»

Laurentino Gomes, Folha de São Paulo

«Coinciding with the election of the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, this epic history of the world's sixth most populous country is a shocking, dramatic and utterly engrossing read. The details of Brazil's history, from the 19th-century empire to the suicide of the quasi-fascist dictator Getulio Vargas, are largely unknown to British readers, but that only makes its dark story all the more fascinating.»

The Sunday Times, Books of the Year

«Detailed and deeply reasoned . . . Illuminating, engrossing, and consistently thoughtful.»

Larry Rohter, The New York Review of Books

«Compelling and insightful . . . One of Schwarcz and Starling's great strengths is their dissection of changing racial identity.»

Geoff Dyer, Financial Times

«Engrossing ... eye-opening ... an enormously refreshing treat»

Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

«With great skill the authors have managed to combine clarity and consistency, substance and fluency, historical precision and a text that is a joy to read»

Lira Neto