Children of God's Fire: A Documentary History of Black Slavery in Brazil Paperback – June 30, 1994

This book is a giant collection of primary sources collected and edited by Robert Conrad pertaining to black slavery in Brazil. We used this book in my Slaves Societies of the Americas history course and it was an invaluable asset to my research. I had learned almost nothing about slavery in Brazil prior to reading this book and it has truly showed me the horrors of the institution of slavery. Having been mostly educated on slavery in the US South, I was shocked to discover that there were vastly more slaves in Brazil and that the Brazilian slavery system lasted practically until 1890. This is a must read for those who wish to gain a better understanding of what slavery in the Americas was truly like.

this is a highly technical book with excellent historical references and obvious good research. Very educational and informative. It is very readable. A word of caution: some of the commentaries reflect US or English mindset bias, i.e. a hint of a moral superiority, unwarranted, most probably unintentional and unconsciously done, but frequently encountered in books written in the English language about other cultures, which may offend other native language speakers.

slavery in Brazil! This book is very good! It backs everything up with documentation and it shows how cruel of an institution slavery was in Brazil. It also gives the reader a good idea on the scope of slavery in Brazil. 40% of the Africans transported to the new world went to Brazil. This was a country that was totally dependent on African slave labor.

Composed of myriad primary sources, Conrad prefaces each document with a description, date and summary of the following text. Organized topically and then chronologically within each section, the format perfectly suits the researcher. Interestingly, (for my purposes) the text contains numerous accounts of quilombos in Palmares, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and others. The documents date from 1550 (approx.) through the final proclamation ending slavery in Brazil in 1888. Outstanding research tool, as well as an interesting read for those wishing to learn, first hand, about slavery in Brazil.