Book Launch for "The Captain's Coup," an English-language translation of Wilfred Burchett's account of the Carnation Revolution in 1974 Portugal
The UMass Dartmouth Center for Portuguese Studies & Culture will host a book launch for The Captain's Coup, an English-language translation of Wilfred Burchett's account of Portugal's 1974 Carnation Revolution edited by UMassD History Professor Timothy Walker and Daniela Melo. Burchett went to Lisbon in 1974 to cover the military overthrow of the fascist dictatorship that had ruled the country for nearly five decades. Burchett’s on-the-ground reporting details the immediate aftermath of the coup and the civilian uprising that followed, which took its name, the Carnation Revolution, from the flowers demonstrators handed out to soldiers and placed in their rifle muzzles. The people’s victory began a transition to democracy. It prompted the withdrawal of troops from Portugal’s colonies, bringing independence to Guinea Bissau and soon to Angola, Mozambique and other colonial territories. On the fiftieth anniversary of the revolution’s end, The Captains’ Coup offers an insightful and poignant narrative -- never before available in English -- from a journalist of international repute. The text is based on the author’s original typescripts, discovered recently in the National Library of Australia. A foreword and introductory essay by the editors that explore the political and journalistic significance of Burchett’s work. Their annotations provide essential historical context for the account, which is Illustrated by contemporary photographs and political posters, and includes an afterword by historian and filmmaker Tariq Ali.
Archives and Special Collections Reading Room, Claire T Carney LIbrary
Chelsea Fernandes
508-999-8526
cfernandes6@umassd.edu