This is undoubtedly the best storybook I have ever read in my entire life. In this work, divided into three volumes that add up to just over 700 pages, Heitor Lyra traces, in a light, precise and passionate writing, the most glorious period in all Brazilian history. Who indicated it to me? The answer is for all those who bother me by asking: “How are you so smart and admire Olavo de Carvalho?”. This book, like many others, I only had access because of the teacher’s recommendation, which classified it as “wonderful”. If depended on the publishers, I would never have access to this work, only available in sebums and in very rare units. I remember that to gather all three volumes, I had to fish in Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre and São Paulo. Well, it was worth every penny. And I reflect: What do schools give young Brazilians to study the 19th century? — I do not remember what I studied myself… — Heitor Lyra had access to the best possible documentation on the period and especially on the greatest symbol of Imperial Brazil. The book, according to the author, “was written in Europe”, where he had access to the vast documentation of the emperor’s foreign correspondents and, moreover, had opened to himself the “priceless archive of the Brazilian imperial family”, arranged at the time at Castle D’Eu , in the care of Dom Pedro de Orléans e Bragança, grandson of Dom Pedro II. At the time, Heitor Lyra was the first and only historian that had access to this archive, which is now reduced to ashes after the fire at the Museu Nacional. I think, think and hesitate to put into words my frustration… What bothers me is not only not seeing new editions of this work and almost all the good history books I have had access to; is to contrast what I find in good books with the vague and stupid vision that I unconsciously nourished from the period; is to find out, suddenly, that I was unaware of almost all the great figures that my country has produced. So I reflect: Why do not we find Heitor Lyra, or Varnhagen, or José Maria Bello on Amazon? It seems to me that, blatantly, there was and there is an effort to tell an alternative history of Brazil.
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