A transformation began in Brazil during the period from 1850 to 1914, and this book examines, as one theme within that story, the relationship of the British to the onset of this revolutionary process. By 1914 Brazil had done no more than begin to modernize; but it had begun. And perhaps the effort needed to start along this way was greater than that required to continue, for I am not merely speaking of economic development, but of modifications in the social structure and alterations of individual beliefs and attitudes, that is, of changes which have facilitated further changes down to our own day.

The British were among the major actors in this drama. They contributed directly to the spread of coffee culture which disrupted the ancient economic patterns of Brazil. They also provided much of the ‘infrastructure’ and some of the capital for industrialization. They wrought major changes in Brazil's labor system and were among the agents of diffusion for a more ‘Western’, European world-view and societal structure. But Britishers also hindered Brazilian development, and it is historically important to perceive the ambiguity of their role on the Brazilian stage. Brazil's development—and lack of development—is a complex story and neither a ‘devil theory’ nor a panegyric will satisfy its exigencies.

Scholars of many disciplines are today concerned with the kind of change which I here describe in Brazil, and it is not my purpose to add to the extant literature on the theory of modernization. I only say what so many already know: that this process is not an easy one to foster.