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The fact that competing positions were reflected in biographical works is all the more significant. Here, more than elsewhere, against the backdrop of exemplary literature, the role and place of the individual (and the collective) in history were debated in practice (M. Domingues, Grandes momentos da história de Portugal, 1958: 9-19)
The potential of historical biography as a far-reaching intervention tool fuelled the increasing publication of such works in the mid- century. It is suggestive that despite the express and gradual replacement of the protagonists of this type of literature, with a decrease in the prominence of royal and military figures to favour those linked to the arts and culture in general—with the obvious exception of the popularisation sponsored by the state—no clear slowdown in the pace of publication was observed, apart from that experienced in the volume of publications in general around the years close to '74. Specifically biographical collections, typically delving into the lives of intellectuals, were published by Seara Nova ("Biografias" ["Biographies"]), Cosmos ("Biografias" ["Biographies"]), Sá da Costa ("Os portugueses no mundo"[The Portuguese in the World"]), Bertrand ("Vidas portuguesas e brasileiras" ["Portuguese and Brazilian Lives"]), Presença ("Biografia de bolso") ["Pocket Biography"], Excelsior ("Grandes vultos da história da humanidade" ["Great Figures of History and Humanity"]), in addition to many others that were frequently included in works of the same type (such as "História de Portugal" ["History of Portugal"]by the Empresa Nacional de Publicidade or "Biblioteca breve" ["Brief Library"] in the 1970s by the ICLP). As the second half of the century approached, publishers gauged the pulse of the biography-consuming public, especially regarding biographies with a historical focus, and judging by the introductory texts of some of these collections, they recognised a growing interest in the genre. However, their content, increasingly dominated by cultural figures, was less explicitly marked by the dominant ideology, although it remained almost always celebratory. This suited popular taste and the nationalist sentiment which historiography, particularly the biographical genre, had helped to consolidate with such success.
