Vitor Izecksohn.Slavery and War in the Americas: Race, Citizenship, and State Building in the United States and Brazil, 1861–1870.

Abstract

Comparing two distinct and outwardly unrelated histories can be risky and readers usually have to decide whether a comparison reveals something more significant than would a consideration of the two cases in isolation. Most often, as with the present study, the comparison works well in some respects but not in others. Vitor Izecksohn offers a comparison of the experience of the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War from 1861 to 1865 with the Brazilian army during the Triple Alliance conflict with Paraguay from 186 to 1870. He is quite right to note that the two conflicts, though frequently spoken of in the same breath, have never before been systematically compared, and he deserves kudos for his intelligent analysis of one important element that both armies had to address: recruitment. Both the Union and the Brazilian imperial regime experienced a wave of volunteerism when the dogs of war were initially unleashed, followed by greater hesitation once the struggle became protracted. Both governments dealt with a certain degree of opposition to recruitment policies that could only be overcome by developing innovative strategies. The fact that the latter were poorly conceived and often ineffectual, especially in the Brazilian case, comprises an important part of Izecksohn’s narrative.