Ideas in Motion: The 1870 Generation in the Crisis of Imperial Brazil

Angela Alonso's work investigates the intellectual movement of the Generation of 1870. She seeks to show that the intellectual and political activities of its constituent groups were inseparable and, therefore, that the meaning of their writings must be sought within the context of the Empire's crisis. From this perspective, it can be seen that the intellectual movement challenged the imperial order. Socially heterogeneous groups, yet sharing a situation of political marginalization, resorted to a new political-intellectual repertoire and a reinterpretation of Brazilian tradition to express their critique of the institutions, values, and ways of acting of the imperial status quo. Positivism, Darwinism, Spencerianism, and new liberalism are, therefore, modalities of the same reformism.