Examines the fundamental role of rural labor in the making of modern Brazil. ?The Seed Was Planted makes an outstanding contribution to a new political history of modern Brazil by challenging the notion that rural workers were less than full participants in the politics of the Vargas era.? ?John D. French, Duke University Until the 1960s, rural laborers and peasants composed the majority of Brazil?s population and yet most scholars have downplayed their influence on the country's history. In contrast, The Seed Was Planted argues that rural labor has been fundamental to the making of modern Brazil. When the Brazilian military took power in 1964, anarchy in the countryside was one of the problems the conspirators used to justify ousting the civilian government. Cliff Welch examines this claim by narrating the history of rising rural worker activism in Sao Paulo, Brazil's most influential state. Between a major revolt in 1924 and the 1964 coup...
