ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book critically reflects on the paradigmatic phase of accelerated reforms that helped shape Brazilian society in the postwar years. Beyond its comprehensive examination of some of Brazil's most transformative experiences, the book revisits the broader context of Latin America in the postwar era, a time when the developmental path Brazil followed in mid-century represented a potentially more moderate course towards socio-economic advancements for a region constrained by recurrent authoritarian rule and revolutionary upheavals. Shaping the political, economic, intellectual, and cultural lines of the postwar years in the country, the goal of rapidly transforming Brazilian society by means of state-planned industrialization mobilized different sets of government officials, nationalist intellectuals, leading business associations, and influential sectors of organized urban labor into a prolific, original, and creative discussion about the meanings of national development.
