Walter Fraga. Crossroads of Freedom

Walter Fraga’s Crossroads of Freedom: Slaves and Freed People in Bahia, Brazil, 1870–1910 was originally published in Brazil in 2006 and received the Clarence H. Haring Prize from the American Historical Association in 2011 for the best book in Latin American history. Bringing together a wide array of primary sources—official documents, police reports, notary and probate records, novels, memoirs, and letters—Fraga presents a nuanced picture of the everyday life of enslaved and freedpeople in the sugar plantation region of Bahia (referred to as the Recôncavo), just before and after the abolition of slavery in 1888. Impeccably translated by historian Mary Ann Mahony, who also wrote an excellent introduction, the English edition is enriched by two maps and a number of photographs not present in the original Portuguese version. There is also a glossary of Portuguese terms used throughout the book, a helpful addition for the reader unfamiliar with the language and subject matter. My only—and very small—concern is that although Mahony uses italics for Portuguese words in her introduction, this is not maintained throughout the book.

Art history · Genealogy · Glossary · Latin Americans · Linguistics · Memoir · Political science · Portuguese · Classics · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · History of Colonial Brazil · Law · Philosophy