From the publisher’s description:
This classic work is must reading for anyone who would understand Brazil and Latin America, past and present. First published in 1985 and now expanded to include a new chapter on women in Brazilian history, the book explores the social, political, economic, and intellectual currents that shaped nineteenth-century Brazil and whose reverberations continue to be felt throughout contemporary Brazilian society.
da Costa, Emília Viotti (NHC Fellow, 1984–85). The Brazilian Empire: Myths and Histories. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1985. ISBN 0226856674.