Legacy of the Lash

"The book, which is very well written and based on extensive documentary research, portrays the existence of a strict social and racial hierarchy in Brazil, thus adding to countless studies that, for the past several decades, have challenged the still-quite-persistent idea that the country is an example of racial harmony."—Hispanic American Historical Review

"Offering new insights into the spectacular sailors' revolt of 1910, Zachary R. Morgan treats the 'deep structure' of Brazilian naval discipline, one based primarily on flogging. Slavery was only abolished in 1888, and the mutineers, largely of African descent, saw flogging as an intolerable holdover from the slave era. Morgan also shows the incompatibility of the old labor regime and modern naval technology. Trained on the new battleships in the English shipyards where they were built, Brazilian sailors increasingly viewed themselves as citizens in uniform."—Joseph L. Love, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

"Legacy of the Lash is a stellar contribution to the growing global scholarship on mutiny and maritime radicalism. Zachary R. Morgan brings back to vibrant life the history-making powers of Brazil's motley crews in the early twentieth century."—Marcus Rediker, author of The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom