Dom Pedro: The struggle for Liberty in Brazil and Portugal, 1798-1834 by Neil Macaulay

The book has the look and feel of a dry academic text, and there are some notes as well. Yet the book is well written and becomes more exciting once you get to know the main characters. In the end it became a real pageturner for me, because I didn't know the result of the Portuguese war of succession. Altough it's just a biography of Dom Pedro, the book also serves as a political history of Brazil in the period 1798-1834.

The view Macauly gives is far more postive than other sources. Yes Dom Pedro always defended the constitution. But it was a constitution he made himself and in which he had great power. Not even close to democracy. The book ends rather abruptly with the death of Dom Pedro. A chapter with an overview of the importance of Dom Pedro and an evaluation of his strength and weaknesses would have been welcome.

The book is a good introduction to the interesting period in which Brazil became the only New World colony ever to have a European monarch ruling on it's soil. Which made for an easy transition to a Brazilian monarchy and helped to keep this immense land together.