Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Lisbon in advance of Napoleon's invading army, which was
sweeping across the Iberian Peninsula. In this wonderfully
lively account, the author brings to life the incredible
atmosphere in Lisbon and Rio during this key episode in
Brazilian history.
REGIONS: TRAVEL AND HISTORY
THE AMAZON
Colonel P. H. Fawcett
Exploration Fawcett
(o/p).
Fawcett carries his stiff upper lip in and out of some of the
most disease-infested, dangerous and downright
frightening parts of interior Brazil. It's a rattling good read,
compiled by his son from Fawcett's diaries and letters after
his disappearance. Readily available in secondhand
bookshops or online. For more on Fawcett see Chapter 7
(see box, p.479).
Candace Millard
The River of Doubt
(Scribner). Historian
with a talent for writing for a general audience tells the
fascinating and forgotten story of Teddy Roosevelt's
journey to the Amazon after renouncing the presidency of
the US in the early twentieth century. It was close to being
a complete disaster, almost killed him at the time, and
Roosevelt's health never recovered.
Hugh Ra
es
In Amazonia: A Natural History
(Princeton
UP). Superbly written mixture of history, anthropology and
geography, exploring the gap between the way outsiders
and Amazonians think about the region and its landscapes,
and periodically very moving in its interweaving of
personal memory with wider concerns.
★
Euclides da Cunha
Rebellion in the Backlands
(Picador;
Chicago UP). Also known by its Portuguese title
Os Sertões
,
this remains perhaps Brazil's greatest historical account. An
epic tale of Antônio Conselheiro's short-lived holy city, the
Canudos Rebellion and its brutal suppression that left some
15,000 dead, the topic is also a powerful meditation on
Brazilian civilization.
★
Gilberto Freyre
The Masters and the Slaves
(California UP). Classic 1933 history of plantation life in
the Northeast, with a wealth of detail (includes index
headings like “Smutty Stories and Expressions” and
“Priests, Bastards of ”). Very readable, and there is
passionate debate in Brazil over his take on race and
national identity to this day.
Robert M. Levine
Vale of Tears: Revisiting the Canudos
Massacre in Northeastern Brazil 1893-1897
(California UP).
A vivid portrait of backland life and a detailed examination
of the myths behind Canudos. Shocking but utterly
compelling reading, especially when read in conjunction
with da Cunha's classic.
Peter Robb
A Death in Brazil
(Bloomsbury; John Macrae
Books). Sporadically vivid travel writing focused mainly on
Recife and Alagoas, interspersed with analysis of the
corruption of the Collor years. As the title suggests, Robb's
take on Brazil is generally depressing - best read after or
during a visit, not before.
MINAS GERAIS AND BRASÍLIA
Glenn Alan Cheney
Journey on the Estrada Real:
Encounters in the Mountains of Brazil
(Academy Chicago). A
beautiful account of a walk tracing the northern section of
the Estrada Real (the Royal Road, also known as the
Caminho do Ouro) from Mariana to Diamantina. Cheney
offers descriptions of hamlets and villages way off the
beaten track - where, for better or worse, life appears to
have stood still for generations - and meditations on how
communities such as these can survive “development” and
the impact of globalization.
Alex Shoumatoff
The Capital of Hope: Brasília and its
People
(Vintage). The author talked with government
o
cials and settlers - rich and poor - to weave a very
readable account of the first 25 years of the Brazilian
capital.
RIO AND AROUND
Ruy Castro
Rio de Janeiro
(Bloomsbury
).
Ruy Castro, a
renowned journalist, offers a historical and cultural
overview of Rio and, far more importantly, captures his
fellow
cariocas'
soul. Leaving aside Castro's sometimes
irritating generalizations, this topic provides an alluring
entry into Rio life.
★
Alma Guillermoprieto
Samba
(Bloomsbury;
Vintage). The author, a trained dancer and a well-known
journalist, describes a year she spent in Rio's Mangueira
favela
preparing with its inhabitants for Carnaval.
Riveting, superbly written and the best account in English
of
favela
life.
THE NORTHEAST
Billy Jaynes Chandler
The Bandit King: Lampião of Brazil
(Texas UP). Compulsive reading that seems like fiction but
is well-documented fact. Based on original sources and
interviews with participants and witnesses, an American
historian with a talent for snappy writing reconstructs the
action-packed (and myth-encrusted) life of the famous
social bandit, complete with fascinating photographs.
THE SOUTH
Todd Diacon
Millennarian Vision, Capitalist Reality: Brazil's
Contestado Rebellion 1912-1916
(Duke UP). Fascinating
analysis of the Contestado Rebellion in Paraná. The rebels
attacked train stations, sawmills and immigrant colonies in
Santa Catarina and Paraná but were ultimately
outnumbered and outgunned.
