This book marks an important addition to the literature on banks and capital markets in the economic development of Latin America. In the field of Brazilian economic history, it will take its place on a short shelf of basic reference works that engage their subject in a systematic fashion. What makes the book especially ambitious is its attempt to link financial markets and banking institutions to the development of the Brazilian state and economy. Triner argues that the rise of modern banking in Brazil was accompanied by economic growth, market integration, and political arbitrage based on credit and monetary policies underwritten by banks. She argues, moreover, that Brazil's banking system developed simultaneously along public and private lines; that in many ways, banks provided an institutional linkage between public and private spheres; and that the state sought to use the banking system to consolidate and expand its influence.