If you are going to read only one book on Brazil read this one: Brazil: A Biography. It's the one that's been most recommended to me. Yes, it's massive--the audible version is nearly 29 hours long--but the native Brazilian author team offer a comprehensive and clearly written account that spans from "first contact" between the European invaders ("discoverers") up to the transition from military dictatorship in the 80s. One of the authors, Lilia Schwarcz was inducted into the Academia Brasileira de Letras earlier in 2024, becoming only the 11th woman to join the esteemed literary institution since it was founded in 1897.
The Collector of Leftover Souls: Field Notes on Brazil's Everyday Insurrections. This book is a collection of essays by reporter Eliane Brum. In it she sheds light on different facets of Brasilian society normally buried in darkness: Os povos indígenas, minorias sociais, os povos que vivem à margem da sociedade, longe dos núcleos de poder. Essential Brasil read.
Brazillionaires (Audible). Incredible Michael Lewis-style tale of the rise of the 21st century rise (and fall for some) of a billionaire class in Brazil told against the backdrop of corruption, favelas, soccer stadiums, kidnappings and Miami real estate. Essential Brasil read.
Dancing with the Devil in the City of God: Rio de Janeiro and the Olympic Dream (Brazil book). Prodigal daughter/Journalist Julianna Barbassa returns to her home city after a childhood spent largely abroad. Part memoir, part expose, part investigative journalism that covers the national and city politician's ill considered efforts to prepare the city and populace to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. Her thorough reporting brings the reader behind the fabric of Brazilian government and societal machinations, triumphs, and dysfunction.
xvi-xvii: The Lula story: rise from poverty in the Nordeste, shining shoes as a child, selling peanuts in the street, then a steelworker and union leader. A rise above previously entrenched societal hierarchies--founded the Workers' Party. Ran for President three times and lost prior to 2002. But then with a reformed and more business friendly he image he won twice. He played the pivotal role in winning the 2016 Olympic bid for Brazil.
xxii: "God is Brazilian" is a common refrain for Brasileiros to describe good fortune in their country
xxii: para Ingles ver is an Brazilian expression to describe a facade meant to pull the wool over western eyes. First used when they signed a international treaty to abolish slavery but kept doing it anyways.
9: Escape by helicopter of Jose Carlos dos Reis Encina aka Escadihna aka Little Ladder, the founder of Commando Vermelho
13: UPPS (Unidades da Policia Pacificadora) Permanent police bases inside the favelas
15-20: The history of the Vermelho Commando
21: Rio as the cidade partida divided between the morro and the asfalta
Essential Brasil read.
The Invisibles (Brazil book). Came across this book on a colleague's bookshelf and he kindly let me borrow it. I liked it so much that I ordered a copy of my own! A British woman and a Brazilian man fall in love in the 70's and have a child. Unfortunately, he falls on hard times and ends up jailed under the military dictatorship. His wife and child flee to England and never return believing him dead...until some 30 years later when a news clip give his son hope his father might still be alive in Rio. Thus begins a journey for one man's father but also his long lost country--all against the backdrop of a class/tranche of society that often feels invisible--hence the name. Brasil read.
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