The method that Celso Furtado used was essentially historical; his passion -a measured passion- was for Brazil. In the second half of the twentieth century no intellectual contributed more than him to the understanding of Brazil. He was committed to its development, frustrated with its incapacity to achieve it, and always acute in analyzing the economic and political challenges that the country successively faced. In order to demonstrate these ideas, this paper presents a broad review of Furtado's work. /