The preface contains the comment that "this is not an authorized biography", so readers may be surprised to find that it is a fawning assessment of former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. While it provides readers with some useful background, it fails at critical balance. It is further undermined by serious factual errors and an overall lack of depth.

Fernando Henrique Cardoso grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil where he studied sociology and Marxism. He went into exile after Brazil's 1964 military coup, living in Chile and France, before returning to Brazil to found a leftist think tank. Cardoso's 1969 book, "Dependency and Development in Latin America", was a seminal work that established his reputation as a world-class sociologist. Joining the opposition party in the 1970s, Cardoso eventually became a Senator and a key drafter of the 1988 constitution. He captured the Brazilian imagination in 1994 as Finance Minister when his "Real Plan" tamed hyperinflation. Launched by this success, he was elected President that same year.

As the book's analysis demonstrates, Cardoso's greatest asset was his flexibility. For, unlike many of his contemporary intellectuals, Cardoso was not a doctrinaire Marxist who insisted on squeezing modern realities into the mold of his pre-conceived ideology. Instead, he used Marxism and his own dependency theory as working models to identify solutions to real problems. He was, in this sense, a pragmatic and effective applied social scientist. For those readers familiar with Cardoso as president, this book provides useful background demonstrating how he --like the president who followed him, Lula da Silva-- moved from the far left toward the center over his career. This evolution allowed Cardoso, and Lula, to gain the confidence of the financial classes and win national elections.

The book is strongest, not surprisingly, in explaining sociological principles. Author Goertzel is a sociology professor at home describing academic environments and Marxist minutiae. But it is weakest on the economic and political analyses that are critical to understanding Cardoso's terms as president. There are many factual errors whose cumulative effect undermines the credibility of the entire book. Thus the Planalto Palace is incorrectly described as a "two-story office building" (it has four stories); Cardoso ally Antonio Carlos Magalhaes is termed a "distinguished senator" (he is a thoroughly corrupt machine politician). We learn (p.164) that a two-thirds congressional majority is required to amend the constitution (a three-fifths majority is required); and that the 1997 global economic crisis began in Hong Kong (it began in Thailand). The book refers (p.193) to Brazil's congressional districts (Brazil has no congressional districts, all candidates run statewide); and confuses the Bank of Brazil with the government Central Bank.

Even more serious is the inability to balance affection for Cardoso with insightful criticism. From a pointless description of Cardoso's first college term paper to its overuse of the word "brilliant" to describe the subject, the book never rises beyond the level of highbrow fanzine. Though he spent some time in Brazil in the 1960s, the author is no Brazilianist and his analysis of events often slips into facile generalizations ("Many Brazilians of humble means do not want their president to be a common person like themselves."). The worst analysis occurs where complicated events call for critical review, there is just no attempt to criticize Cardoso. Thus readers get apologizes, rather than serious analysis, of Cardoso's failure to implement land reform and intellectual flip-flops that pre-load conclusions most flattering to Cardoso. For example on p.162, readers learn that the constitution limits the powers of the presidency, yet two paragraphs later we read that the president has "formidable powers". There is a similar about-face on the views of economist Rudiger Dornbusch. Overall, the economic analysis is particularly shallow (the author refers on p.164 to alleged "international guidelines" on a country's deficit spending).

The concluding paragraph is so weak that readers who have made it to the end can only shake their heads. For after describing how Brazil in the 1990s failed to implement fundamental reforms, the last page tells us "Congress was rapidly passing much needed reforms", and lamely concludes "If the new commitment to reform can be sustained, the country's long-term prospects are good." The book is not a total failure, but it has serious weaknesses and a grating pro-Cardoso bias that suggests it is the Cardoso fans' attempt to get in the first word on his historical legacy. It is most useful for students of Brazil who will balance it with other readings.

Towards the end of his book on Brazil's current President Cardoso, Prof. Goertzel states, "he is the first professional sociologist to be president of his country". A sociologist himself, the author wrote this biography as a study of Cardoso's academic profile and its possible reflections on his actions as a politician, especially as president. I imagine that such a perspective comes naturally to sociologists. Having lived in Brazil throughout most of Cardoso's political career (though not during his presidency), I think Prof. Goertzel may have pursued something of a shadow. Cardoso is a sociologist *and* a politician, just as Bill Clinton is a lawyer and a politician. Both presidents - who seem to get along well personally - owe their success as politicians to political pragmatism and a great deal of luck. Cardoso's politics were rather leftist as late as the eighties. As a Senator, he voted for many constitutional clauses which as president he had to work hard to revoke. Like Tony Blair, or even Bill Clinton, Cardoso has adapted his policies to economic and political realities. That shows acumen, but not originality or necessarily political courage. The reforms that he has pursued were being advocated long ago in Brazil, but by others - whom Cardoso had often opposed. That he finally saw the light deserves praise, but it is hard to see how his career as a sociologist necessarily played a role.

That said, the book has many good points. It has an excellent analysis of Brazil's politics of the last 8 years. Prof. Goertzel shows a remarkable, even uncanny, penetration of the Brazilian left's thinking. However, the author's knowledge of Brazil's history grows hazier the further he goes back into the past. Up to the seventies the narrative is extremely vague, and occasionally erroneous, when it describes events not related to Cardoso personally. A previous knowledge of Brazilian history and economics is indispensable to understand Cardoso's historical role fully. Those who read this book without such a previous knowledge will, I fear, fail to grasp many essential points, such as the precise nature of Brazil's military regime in 1964-85 and the extent to which inflation dominated - and up to a point still does - Brazil's ecomomy and politics. But it is a well-written narrative, extremely readable.

This biography was not written by writers, but by two people who write. I enjoy biographies, and after reading The Double Helix i wanted to know more about Pauling, but i am a bit disappointed with this book. The science parts are too academic. The final pages of the book, where the authors discuss a psychological analysis of Pauling's personality, rather belong in a doctoral thesis. This is not a book for general consumption, but most likely for someone with a good background on chemistry and molecular biology, who from that basis wants to learn more about Pauling.