Born in Troy, Ohio on July 22, 1932, Professor Skidmore graduated from Denison University in 1954, received a Masters’ degree from the University of Oxford, Great Britain, and completed his doctorate in history at Harvard University in 1961. He taught as an Instructor and then as Assistant Professor at Harvard from 1960 to 1966. In 1967, he moved to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, becoming a Full Professor the subsequent year. Professor Skidmore moved to Brown University in 1988 where he was the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Professor of Modern Latin American History and Professor of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies. He taught in the History Department and was the Director of the Center for Latin American Studies until his retirement in 2001. He has served as President of the Latin American Studies Association and of the New England Council of Latin American Studies.

Professor Skidmore’s first monograph, Politics in Brazil, 1930-1964; An Experiment in Democracy (Oxford University Press, 1967), based on post-doctoral research at Harvard University, immediately became the definitive political history in English and in Portuguese of those turbulent times. He followed up that volume with a political history of the military regime, Politics of Military Rule in Brazil, 1964-85 (Oxford University Press, 1987) that documented the political system under the dictatorship and the gradual return to democratic rule in the early 1980s. Taken together, these two volumes offer the most comprehensive survey of modern Brazilian history and have become classics in the history of Republican Brazil. He has also produced an important textbook history, Brazil: Five Centuries of Change (Oxford University Press, 1999).

Another significant contribution of Professor Skidmore to Brazilian Studies has been the intellectual history, Black into White: Race and Nationality in Brazilian Thought (Oxford University Press, 1974) that traces the changes in notions of race in Brazil from debates during slavery to the eugenic and nationalist movements of the twentieth century. Like his two works on the political history of twentieth-century Brazil, this volume has become a reference point for all subsequent treatments of the subject. Professor Skidmore continued publishing on this topic with an edited volume, Idea of Race in Latin America, 1970-1940 (University of Texas Press, 1990). Professor Skidmore’s interest in modern Latin American history has led him to co-edit with Simon Collier and Harold Blakemore the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean (Cambridge University Press, 1985, 1992), which has also been published in Spanish. He co-authored with Peter H. Smith Modern Latin America (Oxford University Press, 1984 and subsequent editions), co-authored with E. Bradford Burns, Elites, Masses, and Modernization in Latin America, 1850-1930 (University of Texas Press, 1979), and edited Television, Politics, and the Transition to Democracy in Latin America (Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1993).

Books and Monographs

Thomas E. Skidmore. Politics in Brazil, 1930-64: An Experiment in Democracy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967) paperback edition: 1969. Reprinted 1970, 1973, 1976, 1986.

Brazilian edition: Brasil, de Getúlio a Castelo, 1930-64 (Rio de Janeiro: Ed. Saga/Paz e Terra, 1969). Now in its eleventh printing.

Thomas E. Skidmore. Black Into White: Race and Nationality in Brazilian Thought (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974). Honorable mention for the Bolton Memorial Prize of the Conference on Latin American History. Reprinted with new Introduction by Duke University Press, 1992.

Brazilian edition: O preto no branco: raça e nacionalidade no pensamento brasileiro (Rio de Janeiro: Ed. Paz e Terra, 1976). Now in its second printing

Thomas E. Skidmore. The Politics of Military Rule in Brazil, 1964-85 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988). Winner of the Latin American Studies Association's Bryce Wood Award for best book on Latin America (all disciplines).

Brazilian Edition: Brasil de Castelo a Tancredo (São Paulo: Editora Paz e Terra, 1988). Now in its fourth printing.

Thomas E. Skidmore [co-editor with Simon Collier and Harold Blakemore]. Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean, rev. ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). History Book Club selection.

Thomas E. Skidmore, ed. Television, Politics and the Transition to Democracy in Latin America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993).

Thomas E. Skidmore. Brasil Visto de Fora (São Paulo: Editora Paz e Terra, 1994).

Thomas E. Skidmore and Peter H. Smith. Modern Latin America , 6th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). History Book Club selection.

Thomas E. Skidmore. Brazil: Five Centuries of Change (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999). History Book Club Selection.

Chapters in Books

"Brazil's Search for National Identity in the Old Republic," in Raymond S. Sayers, ed., Portugal and Brazil in Transition (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1968), 127-144.

"The Death of Brazilian Slavery, 1866-1888," in Frederick Pike, ed., Select Problems in Latin American History (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1968), 134-171.

"Getúlio Vargas and the Estado Novo, 1937-45: What kind of Regime?" in Joseph Tulchin, ed., Problems in Latin American History (New York, 1973), 243-292.

"Politics and Economic Policy Making in Authoritarian Brazil, 1937-71," in Alfred Stepan, ed., Authoritarian Brazil: Origins, Policies and Future (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973), 3-46.

"United States Policy Toward Brazil: Assumptions and Options," in Ronald G. Hellman and Jon Rosenbaum, eds., Latin American International Affairs Series , vol. I, "Latin America: The Search for a New International Role" (New York, 1975), 191-213.

"The Politics of Economic Stabilization in Postwar Latin America," in James Malloy, ed., Authoritarianism and Corporatism in Latin America (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1976), 149-190.

"Brazil's Changing Role in the International System: Implications for U.S. Policy," in Riordan Roett, ed., Brazil in the Seventies (Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1976), 9-40.

Brazilian translation: "As implicações do novo papel internacional brasileiro para as relações Brasil-Estados Unidos," in O Brazil na década de 70 (Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 1978), 9-40.

"Workers and Soldiers: Urban Labor Movements and Elite Responses in Twentieth-Century Latin America," in Virginia Bernhard, ed., Elites, Masses and Modernization in Latin America , 1850-1930 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979), 79-126.

"The Political Economy of Policy-Making in Authoritarian Brazil, 1967-70," in Philip J. O'Brien and Paul Cammack, eds., Generals in Retreat: The Crisis of Military Rule in Latin America (Manchester: University of Manchester Press, 1985), 115-143.

"Brazilian Labor Relations: A New Era?," (co-authored with José Pastore) in Hervey Jeris, et. al. eds., Industrial Relations in a Decade of Economic Change (Madison: IRRA, 1985), 73-113.

"Brazil's Slow Road to Democratization: 1974-1985," in Alfred Stepan, ed., Democratizing Brazil (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 5-42.

"The Future of Democracy: An Analytical Summary," in Robert A. Pastor, ed., Democracy in the America: Stopping the Pendulum (New York: Holmes & Meier, 1989), 133-198.

"Racial Ideas and Social Policy in Brazil, 1870-1940," in Richard Graham, ed., The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870-1940 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990), 7-36.

"Raça e Classe no Brasil: Perspectiva Histórica," in Peggy A. Lovell, ed., Desigualdade racial no Brasil contemporâneo (Belo Horizonte: UFMG/CEDEPLAR, 1991), 35-50.

“Politics and the Media in a Democratizing Latin America,” in Skidmore, ed., Television, Politics, and the Transition to Democracy in Latin America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1993) 1-22.

“Fact and Myth: Discovering a Racial Problem in Brazil,” in Calvin Goldscheider, ed., Population, Ethnicity, and Nation-Building (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995), 91-117.

"The Mythmakers: Architects of Brazilian National Identity" in Roberto Gonzalez- Echevaria and Enrique Pupo-Walker, eds., The Cambridge History of Latin American Literature , vol. III.(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 345-362.

“Collor’s Downfall in Historical Perspective” in Keith S. Rosen and Richard Downes, eds. Corruption and Political Reform in Brazil: The Impact of Collor’s Impeachment (Miami: University of Miami North-South Center Press, 1999), 1-21.

“Brazilian Foreign Policy, 1930-1945: the Effects of Regime Change” published in a volume edited by the Department of International Relations, Universidade de Brasília.

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

"Survey of Unpublished Sources on the Central Government and Politics of the German Empire, 1871-1918," American Historical Review, LXV (No. 4, July 1960), 848-859.

Gilberto Freyre and the Early Brazilian Republic: Some Notes on Methodology," Comparative Studies in Society and History, VI (no. 4, July 1964), 490-505.

"Letter from Brazil: Recent Publications in History and the Social Sciences," Luso-Brazilian Review, IV (no. 2, December 1967), 111-119.

"Failure in Brazil: From Popular Front to Armed Revolt," Journal of Contemporary History (London), vol. 5, no. 3 (1970), 137-57.

"Notes on Quantitative History: Federal Expenditure and Social Change in Mexico since 1910," Latin American Research Review, V (No. 1, Spring 1970), 71-85. [Co-authored with Peter H. Smith.]

"New Light on Euclides da Cunha: Letters to Oliveira Lima, 1903-1909," Luso-Brazilian Review, VIII (No. 1, Summer, 1971), 30-55. [Co-authored with Thomas H. Holloway.]

"Toward a Comparative Analysis of Race Relations since Abolition in Brazil and the United States," Journal of Latin American Studies, IV (Pt. 1, May 1972), 1-28.

"Eduardo Prado: A Conservative Nationalist Critic of the Early Brazilian Republic, 1889- 1901," Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 12, no. 2 (winter 1975), 149-161.

"The Historiography of Brazil, 1889-1964: I," Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. 55, no. 4, (November 1975), 716-748.

"The Historiography of Brazil, 1889-1964: II," Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. 56, no. 1, (February 1976), 81-109.

"The Years Between the Harvests: The Economics of the Castelo Branco Presidency, 1964- 67," Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 15, no. 2 (Winter 1978), 153-177.

"Race and Class in Brazil: Historical Perspectives," Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 20 (No. 1, Summer 1983), 104-118. Published also in Pierre-Michel Fontaine, ed., Race, Class and Power in Brazil (Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Afro-American Studies, 1985), 11-24.

"Brazil's American Illusion: From Dom Pedro II to the Coup of 1964," Luso-Brazilian Review, vol. 23 (no. 2, Winter 1986), 71-84.

"Comparing Argentina and Brazil: The Link Between Economics and Political Development," New World, vol. 1, no. 1 (1986), 12-45.

“Bi-Racial U.S. vs. Multi-Racial Brazil: Is the Contrast Still Valid?”, Journal of Latin American Studies, vol. 25 (1993), 373-386.

“Studying the History of Latin America: A Case of Hemispheric Convergence,” Latin American Research Review, vol. 33, No. 1 (1998), 105-127.

“Where was the Brazilian Malinche? Myths of National Origin in Brazil and Mexico”, Yale Latin American Studies, 1 (1998), 45-56.

“Onde Estava a ‘Malinche’ Brasileira? Mitos de origem nacional no Brasil e no Mexico,” Cultura Vozes, vol.91, May/June (1997), 107-118.

“Affirmative Action: Lessons for Brazil,” originally delivered at the Brazilian Ministry of Justice, Brasilia, July 1996 and now published in Brazil: Five Centuries of Change.

“Thomas Skidmore Interview,” by Fernando Conceição and Walter Dávila, in Memórias do Presente: Artes do Conhecimento, (Sao Paulo: Publifolha, 2003), 467-477.

Other Journal Articles

"Germany, Austria, and Switzerland," American Historical Review, LXVI (January 1961- October 1961), 255-258, 563-565, 842-844, 1166-1169 (ed. of Bibliographical section).

"Gilberto Freyre e os Primeiros Tempos da Republica Brasileira," Revista Brasileria de Estudos Políticos, No. 22 (1967), 143-168.

"Brazilian Intellectuals and the Problem of Race, 1870-1930," [Occasional Paper No. 6: Graduate Center for Latin American Studies], Vanderbilt University: March 1969.

"O Negro no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos," Argumento (São Paulo), Ano 1, no. 1 (October 1973), 25-45.

"Brazil: From Revolution to Miracle," Latin American Review of Books, no. 1 (Spring 1973) 103-109.

"The Economic Dimensions of Populism in Argentina and Brazil: A Case Study in Comparative Public Policy," New Scholar, vol. 7, nos. 1/2 (1979), 129-166.

"The Politics of Economic Stabilization in Latin America: Notes Toward a Comparative Analysis of Selected Cases in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico," The Wilson Center: Latin American Program (Smithsonian Institution Building, Washington, DC), Working Paper no. 43 (1980).

"Introduction" in Thomas E. Skidmore, ed., "Brazil and Mexico: Contrasting Models of Media and Democratization," Occasional Paper #6, Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Institute for International Studies (Providence: Brown University, 1991).

"Ma Alla Fine Vince il Bianco," Storia e Dossier, VI, no. 51 (Maggio 1991), 16-23.

"Fact and Myth: Discovering a Racial Problem in Brazil," Working Paper #173 (April 1992): Kellogg Institute for International Affairs, University of Notre Dame.

Brazilian version: "Fato & Mito: Descobrindo um Problema Racial no Brasil," Cadernos de Pesquisa, No. 79 (November 1991), 5-16.

"EUA Bi-Racial vs. Brasil Multirracial: O Contraste Ainda é Valido?" Novos Estudos , No. 34 (November 1992), 49-62.

“Race Relations in Brazil,” Camões Center Quarterly , Vol. 4, Nos. 3&4 (1992-93), 49-61

"Is Latin America the Future of Eastern Europe? A Symposium," Problems of Communism, vol. XLI (May-June 1992), 44-57.

“The United States and Latin America: A Permanent Misunderstanding?” The Nineteenth Annual Phi Alpha Theta Distinguished Lecture on History , (SUNY-Albany, 1999).

“The Prism of Race,” Transit Circle, (Porto Alegre: Revista da Associação Brasileira de Estudos Americanos, dezembro 1999, no. 2).

“Temas e Metodologias nos Estudos das Relações Raciais Brasileiras,” Novos Estudos, No. 60 (July 2001).

“Dois Historiadores Pioneiros” Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro, Vol. 163, No. 417 (December 2002), 149-154.

“Raízes de Gilberto Freyre,” Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol.34, Issue 1, (February 2002), 1-20.

“Racial Mixture and Affirmative Action: The Cases of Brazil and the United States,” The American Historical Review, Vol.108, No.5, (December 2003), 1391-1396.

“Levi-Strauss, Braudel, and Brazil: A Case of Mutual Influence,” Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 22, No. 3, (July 2003), 340-349.

“Brazil’s Persistent Income Inequality: Lessons From History,” Latin American Politics and Society, Vol.46, No.2, (Summer 2004), 133-150.

“Brazilian Foreign Policy Under Vargas, 1930-1945: A Case of Regime Type Irrelevance,” in Dennis Roland et al. (eds.), Political Regime and Foreign Relations: A Historical Perspective, Paris: L’Harmattan, 2004

Image: Thoma E. Skidmore and Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira. Undated. Thoma E. Skidmore Archives. John Hay Library.

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