The Tribute of Blood

"The Tribute of Blood is a superb study of the relationships between masculine honor, race, nationalism, and the army during the period of nation-state formation in Brazil." - Michael R. Hall , The Latin Americanist

"[A] fascinating and sensitive analysis of the Brazilian military from 1850 to 1916. . . . The book is rich and complex. . . ."
- Cliff Welch , Labor History

"[An] excellent study [of] . . . the Brazilian army as a prime source for the social, institutional, and cultural history of the country."
- Thomas Skidmore , Journal of Military History

"[I have] unreserved admiration for Beattie’s book. It is not just a pathbreaking and engrossing study of the military and masculinity in Brazil; it is also one of the very best historical treatments of nation building and national identity in postcolonial Latin America." - Barbara Weinstein , American Historical Review

"[I]nnovative, insightful. . . . [T]his work is sure to provoke debate and help to bring army enlisted men into the mainstream of social and cultural history."
- Hendrik Kraay J, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"Beattie draws on a wide range of sources, including eighteenth-century songs, soldiers’ tattoos, congressional records, and cartoons (some marvelous examples of which are included in his book). The result is a highly original work that is not only a political history but also a social study that evokes the daily concerns and social pressures that people faced in late imperial and early Republican Brazil. . . . Beattie’s work reinvigorates political history by uniting it with social and cultural history. . . . [R]emarkable. . . . His study is . . . relevant to a broad audience, not only those interested in Latin American militiaries, but also anyone studying state-making in the developing world. Free of jargon, theoretically sophisticated, and based on a rich array of sources, this work will likely become a staple in a wide range of classes. . . ."
- Shawn Smallman , Hispanic American Historical Review

"Beattie has uncovered a marvelous array of sources to shape his story, ranging from political cartoons and parliamentary debates to a voluminous assortment of army documents, and his meticulous research should be unconditionally lauded."
- James N. Green , EIAL

"Peter M. Beattie's The Tribute of Blood . . . offers bold and innovative interpretations about the modernization process of the Brazilian army and its relationship to notions of race and nation-building. . . . [R]epresents the best in how a new generation of historians of Brazil has linked the methods of social history to questions of power, politics, race, and the state." - James N. Green, Latin American Research Review

"This landmark study is one of the richest sources on the social history of Brazil between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. . . . While this book should attract the interest of scholars both in Brazil and of the military in Latin American and is easily accessible to undergraduates, it is a project that should also be read by all scholars interested in concepts of whiteness and masculinity." - Jerry Dávila , Journal of Social History

“A marvelous and broadly conceived study of great sweep, impressive documentation, and original insight. Beattie shows us how an imaginative study of the military can greatly illuminate issues of masculinity, nationalism, race, social control, and bondage. Its attention to comparative history, its focus on explaining change, and the care and grace of its writing make it something of a model of what institutional histories can achieve.” - James C. Scott, Yale University

“This is the most original work on Brazilian social history by a U.S. scholar in the last fifteen years. Events and issues become newly understandable in Peter M. Beattie’s presentation of military recruitment as a direct measure of state-building in Brazil.” - Dain Borges, University of California, San Diego