Since the 1980's, Marilena Chau?'s writing has had a profound impact in Brazil, contributing to the academic conversation and resonating in popular culture. Here, in English for the first time, are ten of Chau?'s most important essays, with an introduction by Maite Conde that situates the scholarship in the global context. Organized chronologically, the essays chart an intellectual trajectory that offers a philosophical inquiry into Brazil’s political, social, and cultural history—from the final years of the dictatorship in the 1980s until the present day.