The book The Kingdom Not of This World: Chronicle of an Unproclaimed Republic was published in 2015 by the publisher Valentina, the non-fiction work was written by Marcos Costa and my reading was done in the Kindle version. Author Marcos Costa thought about becoming an architect, but soon gave up and went to do History at UNESP – Assis campus. He became a Master and Doctor in Social History also at UNESP. Historian, university professor, researcher and writer. Author of numerous articles published in academic journals and books; The Obscure Book of the Discovery of Brazil, The History of Brazil for those in a hurry and The Man Who Didn't Want to Be Immortal.
Image: Matheus Araújo, 2022
In the book we can find the greatest historical figures of the Brazilian Empire period, through independence, with Pedro I, to the chaotic days of the “proclamation” of the republic. Marcos Costa tells the backstage of a dispute for power that begins in 1831 and involves nothing more, nothing less than some of the main characters in our history. On the one hand, the monarchists, the nouveau riche, D. Pedro I, Duque de Caxias, Barão de Mauá, D. Pedro II, Princess Isabel, Conde D'Eu; on the other, of course, the republicans, the slaveholders, the coffee growers, Barão de Cotegipe, Benjamin Constant, Quintino Bocaiúva, Floriano Peixoto.
It is an excellent book to understand how was the period of the Brazilian empire, how was the whole plot that happened for Dom Pedro II to be able to hold the ends together with his faithful friend Caxias and leave the way open for a possible third reign with Princess Isabel . The name of the book comes after a conversation between Pedro II and the minister Saraiva, in which the emperor asks why there could not be a third reign with Princess Isabel and he replies: “Because your kingdom is not of this world”.
Pedro I, José Bonifácio, Pedro II, Princess Isabel and many others were convinced that slavery should be extinguished. Slavery is a consequence of more than 300 years of colony and it was a huge struggle to end the period of the Brazilian Empire. The landowners were the elite of the time and were at all costs in favor of slave labor, having the end of slavery and having their employees paid was what no slaveholder wanted. In fact, the Baron of Mauá was ahead of his time, his employees were all salaried and he became the richest man in the Empire of Brazil and this also worried the slaveholders a lot.
Image: Matheus Araújo, 2022
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The entire republican ideal at that time emerged with the support of the landowners in a direct confrontation with this monarchic ideal that was growing in the country and that had been in the Brazilian court for a long time. What happened in 1889 was not a proclamation, it was a coup and in this book the author makes this very clear in several details, with a timeline that leaves the reader attentive to every detail of the chaos that occurred in the city of Rio de Janeiro in 1889. Chaos in the sense of a fatal error to the morality of the country, because there was no armed revolt because everything was done in the background, without the population being aware of anything. In the history of Brazil something happened that did not happen anywhere, in 1889 there was a revolution not to bring about changes, but to maintain the slaveholding ideals, that is, a non-progressive revolution, but a “conservative revolution”, ironic, no?
In the book, the author makes clear the entire trajectory of the government in the struggle with slavery, the alignment for the third reign and shows other main moments of the period, but I believe that what was lacking was only an emphasis on the explanation of the emperor's action at the time of the coup, but reading the book is simple and without much ado.
“And the people… the people, as always, are at the mercy of their own fate, their bad luck.” – Marcos Costa
TITLE: THE KINGDOM THAT WAS NOT OF THIS WORLD: CHRONICLE OF AN UNPROCLAIMED REPUBLIC
AUTHOR: MARCOS COSTA
PUBLISHER: VALENTINA
YEAR: 2015
PAGES: 290
Note
- History
- Reading
- Typography
- Illustration
- Diagramming
Conclusion
In the book, the author makes clear the entire trajectory of the government in the struggle with slavery, the alignment for the third reign and shows other main moments of the period, but I believe that what was lacking was only an emphasis on the explanation of the emperor's action at the time of the coup, but reading the book is simple and without much ado.
Note
- History
- Reading
- Typography
- Illustration
- Diagramming
Conclusion
In the book, the author makes clear the entire trajectory of the government in the struggle with slavery, the alignment for the third reign and shows other main moments of the period, but I believe that what was lacking was only an emphasis on the explanation of the emperor's action at the time of the coup, but reading the book is simple and without much ado.
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