Recognized as a turning point in Brazilian literature, this entertaining novel of urban manners follows the ne'er-do-well Leonardo through his various romantic liaisons and frequent scrapes with the law. First printed in weekly installments in 1852, and later published in two volumes in 1854-55, Memoirs of a Militia Sergeant comprises a series of humorous vignettes held together by the adventures and misfortunes of this young rogue--who matures from a handful of a toddler into a ruffian of a boy and an idler of a young man--and his father, also named Leonardo.
Manuel Antonio De Almeida...

When in 1808 members of the Portuguese royal entourage arrived in Rio de Janeiro, the capital of a colony most had previously known only through administrative reports and balance sheets, they encountered a hostile and dangerous population that included a large number of African slaves. One of the institutions they brought from Lisbon was the General Intendancy of Police, which was the foundation on which the city's police institutions were built. The government met the challenge of bringing the inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro under control with a repressive apparatus that grew along with the...