In 1970, Orlando Ribeiro published a critical review of Le Portugal Méditerranéen , an unusual review in that it took the form of a book exceeding 200 pages. Titled A Evolução Agrária no Portugal Mediterrâneo, segundo Albert Silbert [The Agrarian Evolution in Mediterranean Portugal], According to Albert Silbert, it summarised Silbert’s arguments in a more concise format than the original 1,200 pages while offering a detailed discussion of his proposals by one of his most respected interlocutors. The book inaugurated a new series within the Chorographia [Chorography] collection, the Série histórica [Historical Series], and it is reasonable to assume that it was more widely read in Portugal than Silbert's original 1,200-page thesis published in French. Orlando Ribeiro’s book thus serves as a long and thoughtful dialogue with Silbert's magnum opus, examining the two regions central to his study—Beira-Baixa and Alentejo—and offering a detailed discussion of his theses. Ribeiro explores Silbert’s analysis of land ownership and exploitation in these provinces, their legal frameworks, crop cultivation, livestock farming, integration into regional markets, trade routes, methods of marketing products, and the social structure of these areas during the pivotal period at the end of the Ancien Régime. Particularly noteworthy are the themes of agrarian collectivism and its ambiguous role in regions deeply influenced by agriculture and, above all, commercial cattle breeding, especially regarding the use of common pastures. Ribeiro highlights one of the most original aspects of Silbert’s work: the "discovery" of the significance of agrarian collectivism in the Alentejo. This is especially true in the northern Portalegre area and the southern Campo de Ourique region. The dialogue between geographer and historian extends and deepens the collaboration initiated in Le Portugal de Méditerranéen expresso, as reflected in the title of Ribeiro's work. The geographical area chosen by Silbert for his thesis was part of what Orlando Ribeiro had termed "Mediterranean Portugal," one of three regions into which he divided the Portuguese mainland in his seminal work, Portugal, o Mediterrâneo e o Atlântico [Portugal, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic], published in 1945.

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