Vassouras is a Brazilian province reputed to be one of the richest coffee producing areas between 1850-1890. In his book of the same name, Stein uses this province as a model through which the rise and fall of coffee plantations during that era may be observed. The main themes of the book were the plantation lifestyle, the shortcomings of plantations owners as managers, the difficulties faced with coffee production and trade, and the rise and fall of the coffee industry in Vassouras. I believe that the writer's intention was to reveal how the resources and the opportunities afforded to plantation owners were ill managed and misused during the brief period of prosperity.
In financial transactions, land use and coffee production, the blunders of the fazendieros and the coffee society at large were exposed. The author summarized his sentiments by stating, `The prosperous edifice erected by coffee planters in the years immediately preceding and following 1850 held within it elements of destruction.' (page 213) Stein effectively brings the view that coffee production in Vassouras was fraught with lack of forethought as evidenced by the rapid and irreconcilable decline of the economy. Attached to the main themes were reports that gave a glimpse into the daily lifestyle and the routine of plantations. The details supplied were very successful in giving a clear, visually dynamic illustration of the town of Vassouras, the plantation house and the coffee fields in terms of physical appearance, daily activities and even special occasions. There was a reasonable degree of balance of the themes discussed as far as it concerned the relations between masters and slave and, barring to the shortcomings of the fazendieros, the insurmountable obstacles that were faced such as transportation of goods to Rio de Janeiro and climatic conditions. It is an excellent source for almost any information concerning coffee plantation life during that period. There was some bias against the fazendieros however, I believe that the account given was reasonably fair and, with the evidence given, that bias seems totally justifiable.
I was greatly impressed by the author use of sources mainly because there was quite a large amount of primary sources used. Primary sources included newspapers, oral interrogations, proceedings from Agricultural Congresses, documents stored in archives of Vassouras and national archives and information stored at notarial offices such as police reports, wills, advertisements, sales of goods, posters and pamphlets. This enabled the author the report specific details of the fazenda architecture, purchases daily routines and interactions between members of the province. There was very limited use of secondary sources.
For descriptions of the fazendas, mostly documents obtained in the archives were used and fortunately plantation owners were very thorough with their records. These details served to enhance the images construed by the reader. For example the inventory of the fazenda belonging to Antonio Vieira Muchacho in 1825 (page 23) details furniture, tools and household items. Inventories complied later in the century were used to show the increase in prosperity in the Province by 1850, as in the case of the inventory of the household of Polucena d'Oliveira Serra (page 44). In reading the book I sometimes found it difficult to put things in perspective as it related to time. Whether it was master-slave relation, purchase of new machinery, methods of recapturing slaves or the departure of townsmen there was insufficient mention of how it related to aforementioned themes such as transportation. It was not easy to use the development of a particular chain of events as a timeline for another, for hardly was any mention of other aspects of the society alluded to when any one theme was being discussed.
If a topical search for information in the book implemented, it would be useful in its present format. However the format falls short if it is used for a clear, chronological picture of events unless the reader is familiar with events which took place in Brazil in the latter half of the 19th century.
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