Horror on the Periphery of Modernity: The Invention of the Baixada Fluminense and the Legendary Tenório Cavalcanti

The 1950s stand out as the “Golden Years” in the collective memory of many Brazilians. Sandwiched between the authoritarian periods of the Estado Novo dictatorship led by Getúlio Vargas (1937–45) and a military dictatorship (1964–85), the decade was a time of great optimism for the country's future. Many hoped that the country would enjoy a lasting democratic system accompanied by the ever-increasing trappings of modernity. Indeed, a surge of economic growth and industrial development during Vargas's return as a democratically elected president (1951–54), followed by a massive industrialization program crowned by the construction of the ultramodern capital of Brasília under Juscelino Kubitschek (1956–61), gave true believers reason for optimism.