Portugal contemporaneo, Vol. 2 (of 2)

A vivid portrait of Portugal in the tumultuous years after the civil war, this volume plunges listeners into the birth of a new parliamentary world. The narrative opens with the first session of 1834‑35, when D. Pedro inaugurates a makeshift chamber in a looted convent, its blue‑white walls still smelling of fresh paint. Amidst crumbling old regimes, the fledgling assembly wrestles with questions of legitimacy, representation and the very meaning of liberty.

Through the eyes of impassioned figures such as the idealistic opposition leader Manuel Passos, the book captures heated debates over press freedom, municipal councils and the right to vote. It sketches the clash between a regent’s centralizing impulse and a restless liberal faction determined to reshape the nation’s institutions. Listeners will feel the urgency of an era where political theory met street‑level struggle, setting the stage for the dramatic reforms that will follow.