Librarian of Congress James H. Billington will award the 2012 John
W. Kluge Prize for lifetime achievement in the study of humanity to Fernando Henrique
Cardoso, one of the leading scholars and practitioners of political economy in recent Latin American history.
Cardoso’s scholarly analysis of the social structures of government, the economy and race relations in Brazil laid the intellectual groundwork for his leadership as president in the transformation of Brazil from a military dictatorship with high inflation into a vibrant, more inclusive democracy with strong economic growth.
The Library will present the Kluge Prize to Cardoso at a ceremony on July 10 in the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building. Cardoso is the first prize recipient whose work spans the fields of sociology, political science, and economics.
Cardoso is the eighth recipient of the $1 million Kluge Prize, which recognizes and celebrates work of the highest quality and greatest impact in areas that advance understanding of the human experience. A scholar of enormous intellectual energy, he has written or co-authored more than 23 scholarly books and 116 scholarly articles, with versions of each produced for a wider public.
For further information on the Kluge Center, visit www.loc.gov/kluge/.