O Atrito da Memória: Colonialismo, Guerra e Descolonização no Portugal Contemporâneo, Miguel Cardina (2023).

The article reviews Miguel Cardina's book *O Atrito da Memória: Colonialismo, Guerra e Descolonização no Portugal Contemporâneo* (The Friction of Memory), which examines the memory and legacy of Portuguese colonialism and the colonial wars in contemporary Portugal. The book traces the historical development of Portuguese colonialism from the fifteenth century to its end in 1975, highlighting how official narratives have often idealized this past through lusotropicalist discourse while marginalizing critical perspectives. It also explores the memory of the colonial wars (1961–1974), emphasizing the processes of forgetting and silencing shaped by state and social actors, alongside emerging counter-narratives since the 1990s. The work contributes to debates on history, memory, and power in postcolonial Portugal, though it notes the absence of a broader comparative analysis with other European colonial contexts and a deeper focus on the memory of decolonization itself.