The first full-length English scholarly biography of one of the last dictators of Western Europe. Antonio de Oliveira Salazar entered the government of Portugal when Herbert Hoover was president and ended his political career at the end of the Johnson administration; he remained in power for forty years (1928 1968), one of the longest tenures in modern history. As a young man he planned to enter the priesthood and attended the seminary until he decided to become a political economist and an academic. Unlike the other ''great dictators'' of the twentieth century, including Franco, Mussolini, and Hitler, Salazar immersed himself in the minutiae of government and administration, maintaining a prodigious work rate throughout his forty years in power. He managed his country's finances and economy, one of the poorest in Western Europe, successfully during the Great Depression. He became a seasoned diplomat who spared Portugal from the horrors of World War II by remaining strictly neutral, ultimately favouring Great Britain and the United States. However, Salazar would always remain an extremely conservative statesman who relied on secrecy and a police state, appearing to favour fascism, fearing modernity, and ultimately rejecting the anti-colonialist movements in Asia and Africa. He saw the universal granting of independence to the colonies as a sign that the West was abdicating its civilising mission. This is the first full-length English-language scholarly biography of a key Portuguese political leader and an icon of twentieth-century politics.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Watchdog
Format:Paperback
Much has been written about Salazar, but I would say this book is particularly authoritative. It is a key work for anyone with an interest in Salazar and twentieth century Portugal. Perhaps its most relevant contribution is its open and multifaceted approach. Salazar appears on the one hand as the repessive dictator but on the other as someone voted for as a top figure in Portuguese history.
By Big Bear
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book attempts to give an academically very well researched and objective account of the life of Salazar. This portrayal of a curiously uncharismatic, ascetic and intellectually-gifted dictator, so unlike Franco in neighbouring Spain, is fascinating but given the subject matter it is not an easy read.
13 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm portuguese. I read more or less all the portuguese Salazar biographies,y read all of his speaches, and y think this biography is the best one and and example of the new, and very good, portuguese scholars kind of work , in fact very internationalized.
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