The indignant reason

Narrated by renowned historians, A razão indignada presents the life and trajectory of Leonel Brizola: One of the most important politicians in the country, the only one elected by the people to govern two different states in Brazil.

"Indignant Reason" brings together 10 texts by historians about Leonel Brizola and addresses two phases of his political career. The first, spanning 1961 to 1964, refers to the period when Brizola was elevated to the prestigious position of left-wing leadership, as governor of Rio Grande do Sul and federal deputy. The second begins in the early 1980s, when Brizola reestablished the labor movement and assumed the governorship of Rio de Janeiro—having to deal with criticism from both the revolutionary left and conservative sectors.

"The rebirth of politics as an instrument of analysis for historians has produced an avalanche of works about individuals. Characters who, more or less well-known, sometimes victorious, sometimes defeated, had their lives and trajectories valued in some way by the researcher.

Often, it involves a previously unknown figure, such as Menochio from The Cheese and the Worms, a character who was only introduced to the world when he emerged from the archives and documents made public by Carlo Ginzburg. On other occasions, the individual, though well-known, lacks the academic scholarship capable of making him understandable beyond blind apology or easy condemnation.

This is the case with Leonel Brizola. A controversial figure, with a political career marked by the gap between the civil-military dictatorship and a key element in understanding the continuities and discontinuities of Brazilian laborism. The debt, not exactly to the figure himself, but, above all, to men and women interested in contemporary Brazilian history, is partly remedied with the publication of this book.

A comprehensive work, born from debates at academic meetings in Brazil and abroad, it presents an excellent mosaic of the man who, as the main leader of the pre-1964 labor left, transitioned to a post-amnesty reformist project while simultaneously breaking with and maintaining some of his past traits.

This Mosaic is capable—who knows?—of briefly encouraging a necessary biography. A fundamental piece for understanding the history of Brazil in the second half of the 20th century, it is a book to be read with the same critical care with which it was written by its authors."

- Francisco Martinho, Professor of the History Department at USP and researcher at CNPq