A thorough study of Brazilian politics from 1930 to 1964, this book begins with Getulio Vargas' fifteen-year-rule - the latter part of which was a virtual dictatorship - and traces the following years of economic difficulty and political turbulenece, culminating in the explosive coup d'etat that overthrew the constitutional government of President Joao Goulart and profoundly changes the nature of Brazils' political institutions.

The first book by Thomas E. Skidmore, Politics in Brazil, 1930 - 1964, immediately became the definitive political history in English and in Portuguese of those turbulent times. It was published by OUP in 1967 in hardcover but it has been out of print in recent years. For this 40th anniversary, James Green, who is Skidmore's literary executive and successor at Brown University, will write a new foreword for the book, placing it in the context of the literature.