The Light: Brazilian Traction, Light and Power Company Limited, 1899-1945 by McDowall, Duncan - 1988

Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. 8vo. Original cloth boards with black lettering to spine. Grey and red pictorial endpapers with image of The Rio de Janeiro Tramway Light and Power Company share warrant. xi, [25 p.p. B&W photos], 459 p.p. B&W photos and one map. Light creasing to foot of spine and bumping and rubbing to spine ends. Light staining to edges of text block. Spine tilted. Dust jacket has some light age toning to flaps and a few scuffs to spine and covers. If south-eastern Brazil is today in the forefront of industrialization in the developing world, it is because from the earliest years of the century the burgeoning cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo had access to cheap and abundent hydroelectricity. Few Canadians realize that the hydrostations, power distribution, trams, buses, telephone, and gas works underlying this urban and industrial transformation were long owned by a Canadian-chartered corporation, the Brazilian Traction, Light and Power Co. Ltd, which administered a huge utilities empire from thousands of miles away. Based on interviews and research conducted in Canada, Brazil and England, The Light is a corporate biography set in broad context.