Table of Contents

Who Are the Brazilians? * The Portuguese * The Africans * The Indians * The Immigrants The Pyramid of Power in Brazil * The Haves * Controlling Brazillian Minds: A Case Study of the Globo Network * The Have-Nots * Lula and the Workers Party: Who Speaks for the Voiceless? The Curse of Violence in Brazil * The Culture of Brutality * Suffer the Little Children * Abusing Natures Bounty * The Amazon Basin: A Case Study of Violence Spiritual Brazil * Roman Catholicism * The Orixs * Evangelicals on the Move In Search of What Makes Brazilians Brazilian * Soccer Madness * The Lesser Gods: Brazils Heroes * The Telenovela: A National Obsession * In the Land of Carnival * Whither Brazil?

About the Author

Joseph A. Page, a professor of law at the Georgetown University Law centre, is the author of Peron, which was translated into Spanish and became a South American bestseller. He also wrote The Revolution That Never Was and Bitter Wages.

Reviews

Vast in area, rich in resources and uniquely integrated in racial composition, here is Brazil in all its beauty, contradictions, promises and disappointments. Page (Peron), whose love affair with the country spans 30 years, probes deep into the layers of Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, African and Indian heritage that make Brazil so alluring and paradoxical. Idealistic and pragmatic, exuberant and passive, its people have survived colonialism, slavery, dictatorships and populism and now struggle toward a viable capitalism in a society characterized by extremes of wealth and poverty. The successful synergism of many races-``miscegenation has been a common and accepted practice''-exists side by side with real discrimination. In this magnetizing study, Page also explores the meld of Catholicism and Pentecostalism, of native Indian healers and modern medicine, of African rhythms and Western music. He discusses the environmental and investment scenes as well as the addiction to soccer and to the telenovelas of the powerful Globus media empire, which so engross the population that the realities of life often seem to merge with their plots and characters. In its depth, scope and accessibility, this is an important work. (July)