Students of development around the world have continually pointed to Brazil as potentially the next world power. In terms of size, resources, population, and location there is every reason to believe that this giant nation will come to dominate its continent just as the United States dominates North America, and that its power will entitle it to a role in world affairs as an equal to the other great powers. The irony of Brazil today, however, is that it continues to be burdened with the largest underdeveloped area in South America: the Northeast, where more than 22% of the national population lives on 11% of the territory. "The dominant impression," given by Northeast Brazil, Dr. Webb writes, "is one of grave social, economic and political problems which are intimately entwined with physical and ecological problems within a long, complex, historical fabric." Some areas of the Northeast have been analyzed and discussed in great detail, notably in the work of Gilberto Freyre, but many others of possibly greater importance today, have not been studied. The agreste, the brejos, and the serras are among these, and Dr.Webb devotes considerable space to an examination of the interaction between physical and cultural processes throughout their recent history.
Working from this framework, he goes on to show how the application of his concept may well illuminate the area's very real and urgent problems. Northeast Brazil stands today as an area of untold potential both for economic and political development and for social and political unrest. This unique volume contributes greatly to our understanding of what it is and why, and should help readers everywhere concerned with what must be done to insure its orderly development and the well being of its people. More than this, The Changing Face of Northeast Brazil provides a new approach to geography that can produce results of crucial interest when applied to developing areas the world over.