Après la révolution du 25 avril 1974, l'avenir du Portugal était entre les mains des officiers militaires responsables du renversement du régime précédent. Que feraient-ils? Serait cela une transition pacifique ou une guerre civile? Un système capitaliste ou communiste? Une vengeance contre le régime vétuste, ou l'instauration d'un ordre juste et légitime? Les dirigeants révolutionnaires parlaient d'un programme politique de décolonisation, de démocratisation et de développement -- les «3 D», mais il n'y avait aucune vision conceptuelle unificatrice de ces «3 D», ni même aucun plan pratique pour les atteindre. Ce nouveau volume, édité par Paul Manuel, revisite les événements du 25 avril. Il fournit des interviews originales ainsi que de nouveaux aperçus par des chercheurs chevronnés, y compris Nancy Bermeo, Maria Inácia Rezola, Stewart Lloyd-Jones, Luís Nuno Rodrigues, David Silva Ferreira, et Douglas Wheeler. Le volume offre des interviews avec 14 chefs militaires de la Révolution portugaise, recueillies par Paul Manuel. Ces entretiens ont eu lieu en 1990 et 1991, quelques 15 ans après l'introduction du régime démocratique en 1976, et juste après la chute du mur de Berlin en 1989. En tant que tels, ces entretiens méritent d'être examinés de près, car ils fournissent des perspectives non seulement sur ce qui s'est passé au Portugal après le 25 avril, mais aussi une évaluation du rôle du Portugal dans la troisième vague mondiale de démocratisation.

Toutes les interviews sont présentées en version parallèle. Les transcriptions portugaises des bandes sonores archivées originales font face à une traduction anglaise correspondante. Le livre peut très bien servir comme « source historique primaire en contexte » dans des cours ou séminaires multilingues de niveau collégial et universitaire, en Sciences Politiques, Relations Internationales, ou Histoire Moderne, et il sera également utile aux étudiants qui suivent en même temps des cours de portugais ou (vice versa) anglais à un niveau intermédiaire.

"This wonderful collection of interviews with the major political actors of the Portuguese transition to democracy is an invaluable source for students of democratization. Carefully edited by Paul Manuel, a leading scholar of Portuguese politics, these interviews with the 'Captains of April' will be essential reading for all those interested in regime change and the military in the contemporary world." | António Costa Pinto, Research Professor at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, Professor of Politics and Contemporary European History at ISCTE – Lisbon University Institute, Portugal, and former Visiting Professor at Stanford University, Georgetown University, Senior Associate Member at St Antony's College, Oxford, and Senior Visiting Fellow at Princeton University and other institutions.

"With regard to the preservation of memory, a special reference must also be made the 25 April Documentation Center (University of Coimbra), which over the last few years has been working hard in the complex field of oral history. An urgent task, that of preserving national memory, which needs to be supported and enhanced, and to which Paul Manuel makes an invaluable contribution with this book. Alongside the studies featured in this book, the set of interviews published here constitutes an important legacy for the history and memory of the Portuguese Revolution. The testimonies presented in this volume by important personalities of the revolutionary 'hot years' show that, despite all the historiographical progress, the use and analysis of political actors’ discourse fully retains an important place in the study of the Portuguese Revolution." | Maria Inácia Rezola, Associate Professor at the Escola Superior de Comunicação Social at the Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa (ESCS-IPL) and a Researcher at the Instituto de História Contemporanea at the NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal..

"On the 25th of April 1974, the Portuguese Carnation Revolution started an experiment unique in Europe: a peaceful transition from dictatorship to a democratic regime. This was followed by eighteen months of swift and profound changes that radically transformed the country and its relationship to Europe and the world, not least because this brought about the end of its colonial Empire. This was a period of historical acceleration during which a wide variety of experiences and voices surfaced, all of them carrying high expectations. In 1990-1991 Paul Manuel lived in Portugal and interviewed some of the military protagonists of the period, in collaboration with the 25th of April Documentation Center (CD25A). Back then, scarcely any work was done in the area of accurately recovering historical memories. Professor Manuel is thus a pioneer in the field. I was particularly happy when I was apprised of the publication of these interviews, now available to readers in book form. I have no reservations in stressing the great value and the historical significance of this work—" | Rui Bebiano, Professor of History at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, a Researcher at the Center for Social Studies, and the Director of the 25th of April Documentation Center at the University of Coimbra, Portugal.

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