The Accidental President of Brazil: A Memoir

by Fernando Henrique Cardoso

Book Overview

Fernando Henrique Cardoso received a phone call in the middle of the night asking him to be the new Finance Minister of Brazil. As he put the phone down and stared into the darkness of his hotel room, he feared he'd been handed a political death sentence. The year was 1993, and he would be responsible for an economy that had had seven different currencies in the previous eight years to cope with inflation that had run at 3000 percent a year. Brazil...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 158648429X
• ISBN13: 9781586484293
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Informative and sincere political memoir

This is an intriguing and informative political memoir, and I would highly recommend it to anybody interested in recent Brazilian history and politics. First of all, let me share the observation that there really don't seem to be many good books on contemporary Brazil. I am a non-specialist when it comes to Brazil and so I've been searching for some journalistic accounts, travelogues, etc. I was kind of led to this book because it was about the only thing I could find on recent Brazilian politics, but it ended up being a very rewarding read. There are two primary reasons that Mr. Cardoso's memoir succeeds so well. First, the subject matter, modern Brazilian political history, is intrinsically interesting. Second, and most importantly, however, Mr. Cardoso is a truly engaging and oftentimes humorous writer. This is somewhat of a surprise given his academic background. Mr. Cardoso was a fairly successful sociologist before entering politics, and I half expected that dry academic language to show up now and then in his memoirs, but that is certainly not the case. In fact, Cardoso has a very good sense of humor regarding his academic disposition, and how it has both helped and hindered him in political life. One point that might be of relevance to those considering whether to read this book: you might be somewhat disappointed if you are only interested in very recent Brazilian history. Practically the first two-thirds of the book detail Mr. Cardoso's life BEFORE he assumed the presidency. Cardoso brings a very interesting perspective to Brazil's turbulent political history, as he was born into a very powerful military family. His grandfather was a leader of the revolt that brought down the monarchy, while his father was an influential figure under the Vargas regime. Cardoso expertly explains the various elite conflicts that kept Brazil in a state of perpetual political instability for much of the 20th century. As a result of a military coup after WWII, Cardoso was forced into exile, as were many other intellectuals. He spent some of this time in Chile, and one episode recalls a party he attended at Pablo Neruda's house, where he met not only the host but future Chilean president Salvador Allende. He was eventually allowed to return, but his dissatisfaction with the military regime that refused to relinquish control induced him to enter the political fray as an opposition figure. Roughly the last third of the book covers Cardoso's time as president. Cardoso here describes the challenges he faced reforming Brazil's inflation-addled economy (and protecting Brazil from the global financial crises of the late 1990's), fighting corruption, and fixing some of the country's endemic social problems. The latter include the HIV crisis, in which one can reasonably say that Cardoso's administration was successful, and agrarian reform, a problem which still persists to this day. There are also several sections in which he details his troubled and fluctuating re

Wonderful biography of a remarkable, yet poorly known, President of Brazil

Fernando Henrique Cardoso was Brazil's penultimate President. Brazil is the 2nd largest country in the Western Hemisphere, one of the world's 10 largest economies, a major exporter, and yet, as Cardoso rightly points out, many Americans, Europeans, and other foreigners associate Brazil with little more than, "soccer, carneval, and the girl from Ipanema." Additionally, there are still associations of Brazil as a "banana republic" and with the military dictatorship. Cardoso shows very personal sides of Brazilian history, from his ancestors' role in the founding of the modern Republic of Brazil, to his career as an academic, his exile, his persecution under the military dictatorship, to politics, to the Presidency. He gives us many "behind the scenes" views of his life as a politician and President in Brazil. His views on the economy and foreign relations are very pragmatic and seem rational. Overall, very well-written and I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to better understand this important country, as well as to those already interested in Brazilian/Latin-American studies.

A personal and national history - and a good story

Cardoso hails from Brazil's first family, and he weaves a very readable history of Brazil through the stories of his grandfather, father and family friends (and enemies). The author evolves from professor to exile to president, forging Brazil's economic reform policies for a decade and staking his own claim on the country's history. A left-leaning sociologist-turned-economist, Cardoso became famous in the 1970s for the dependency theory (dependencia), trying to explain the relations between the U.S. and Latin America (and first- and third-worlds more generally). But as finance minister in the 1990s, he authored quite un-socialist policies of the Plano Real, breaking inflation through budget cuts, currency reform and attracting foreign investment. He identifies himself with the New Left of Clinton and Blair. This (I hope) will be effective in the classroom as a personal introduction to a fascinating and important country, and as an insider's perspective on the challenges and responses in globalization-era Latin America. Even allowing for the risk of poetic license in autobiographers and co-writers, the book at times reads like an adventure, with stirring characters, dramatic crises and indefatigable, inveterate hope.

An Imminently Readable Introduction to the Nation of Brazil--its history, politics, economy, and cul

In planning a trip to Brazil, I was looking for a readable history of Brazil's past 100 years to give me an understanding of the nation, its history, and its challenges. Fernando Henrique Cardoso's book appeared to be a perfect choice: it combines history, and social and economic analysis with a personal biography of one of Brazil's finest presidents. Like most autobiographies, The Accidental President of Brazil is not an objective work. Cardoso does defend his policies and programs, especially his work in developing Brazil's modern currency--the Real. Cardoso, to his credit, did prove to be an effective inflation fighter who instilled some discipline into the samba economy of Brazil. He also strengthened the country as a democracy and won kudos from foreign leaders, the IMF, and the World Bank. However, Brazil's problems are far from over. Parts of its major cities--the notorious favelas--are ungovernable, and are giving the country a terrible reputation abroad. Poverty and unemployment, which go hand in hand with urban slums, also plague the country. Cardoso draws an interesting analogy between the favelas and the Bronx and Harlem, New York, in the 1970s. Harlem, he argues, looked ungovernable in 1975, but now it is a center of urban renewal and culture. President Clinton even has an office there. In short, if we take a long term view of the favela problem, he explains, positive change is a true possibility. After all, property within a stone's throw of Copacabana beach cannot be slum for ever. The inevitability of progress sounds like the positivist philosophy of Brazil's founders, and in fact, Mr. Cardoso's grandfather was one of a group of military officers who overthrew Emperor Dom Pedro II and founded the modern state. Cardoso, though, is far too complex to fall into a positivist trap. As an academic, he's often more concerned about explaining Brazil's problems and possibilities than establishing his place in history with a laudatory biography. He employs self-deprecating humor throughout the book and is as quick to point out his failures as his successes. The more I read the book, the more I came to admire the man. I also now know much more about the world fifth largest country, and the biggest economy in Latin America than I did before reading the book. Will Brazil be the next India? Read this book and judge for yourself. Do Brazil!

An Entertaining and Insightful Memoir

This entertaining and insightful memoir brings together the best of Cardoso's insights as sociologist, politician, president and elder statesman. It is must reading for everyone interested in Brazil's past or concerned about its future. Fernando Henrique Cardoso began his career as a struggling Marxist sociologist ruminating on stuffy topics such as "the objective possibility of the negation of the situation." After two terms as President of Brazil, he understandably finds academic sociology dull and dogmatic. With a little help from journalist Brian Winter, he has written a fascinating book about his own experiences with the people who run Brazil. He is uniquely qualified because he has known most of the personalities who have shaped Brazil's destiny for half a century, and even longer if we include those he met around the dinner table as a child. See my full review on www.infobrazil.com