David Gelber
BRIC Lit
Brazil: The Troubled Rise of a Global Power
By Michael Reid
Yale University Press 334pp £20 order from our bookshop
In 2001 an economist at Goldman Sachs coined the acronym BRIC to denote the rising powers of the world economy. Brazil, Russia, India and China, it was bullishly forecast, would become the dominant financial forces by 2050. With Brazil and Russia suffering recessions in the last five years and India and China experiencing a slackening in growth, the hypothesis has gone much the same way as the bank’s reputation. Nonetheless, the prognostication has triggered an avalanche of books tapping the zeitgeist in each but one of these countries – Brazil.
Perhaps it’s because Brazil, without the manufacturing muscle, nuclear swagger or imperial fantasies of some of its BRIC stable mates, does not project an alpha-nation image; sometimes, it seems as though the country registers in international consciousness only during the World Cup – this year hosted by Brazil – when
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'It is the ... sketches of the local and the overlooked that lend this book its density and drive, and emphasise Britain’s mostly low-key riches – if only you can be bothered to buy an anorak and seek.'
Jonathan Meades on the beauty of brutalism.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/castles-of-concrete
'Cruickshank’s history reveals an extraordinary eclecticism of architectural styles and buildings, from Dutch Revivalism to Arts and Crafts experimentation, from Georgian terraces to Victorian mansion blocks.'
William Boyd on the architecture of Chelsea.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/where-george-eliot-meets-mick-jagger
'The eight years he has spent in solitary confinement have had a devastating impact on his mental health ... human rights organisations believe his detention is punishment for his critical views.'
@lucyjpop on the Egyptian activist and poet Ahmed Douma.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/ahmed-douma