Most of our favorite books about Brazil are available from Amazon.com. You can check their shipping options, customer service and the Amazon.com Bill of Rights pages. My whole family shops there all the time; it's fast, safe and cheap. They'll gift wrap, ship anywhere in the world and send your personal message along. Go to Amazon.com and do a search under "Brazil" or "capoeira" or...or...You'll be able to choose from hundreds and hundreds of titles...gee, I never knew there were so many books about Brazil in the US! And yes, if you order through this page, I'll make a little money to help keep this site alive!
The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts - Brazil Theme Issue. Published in 1995 by The Wolfson Foundation of Decorative and Propaganda Arts in Miami. With fascinating articles written by the likes of JosΘ Mindlin (Illustrated Books and Periodicals in Brazil, 1875-1945) and Pedro Vasquez (Marc Ferrez: A Master of Brazilian Photography) and superb, I mean, superb illustrations! You can mail or fax your order to The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, 1001 Washington Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139 USA. Fax 305-531-2133. It costs $25 plus US postage $5 or foreign postage and handling $10. Orders not charged to a credit card must be accompanied by a check or money order in US dollars drawn on a US bank and payable to The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts. Now that we got all that out of the way, I can tell you I fell in love with it and it's worth the $$ for the pictures alone if you're too lazy to read.
Traveler's Tales Brazil. I love this book. It is a collection of stories written by many different people who either visited or lived in Brazil. I met one of them, a man who lives in Columbus, Ohio and used to be the private secretary of ex-president Juscelino, believe it or not. This guy wrote a lovely memoir of his days in Rio. You'll really enjoy reading this one, I promise!
Insight Guide Brazil. This is the new 1998 edition. This and the Lonely Planet are my favorite guides to Brazil. Honest!
Lonely Planet Guide to Brazil Complete and reliable information for independent travelers on accommodation options for every budget, suggested itineraries, comprehensive health advice and safety tips, plus asides on history, legends, food, fashion, pop culture, sports, and more, this guide is the perfect companion for any traveler's trip to Brazil. 120 detailed maps in color.
Fazendas. The Great Houses and Plantations of Brazil. Fernando T. F. Pires, Nicolas Sapieha (photographer) and Gregor Rabassa. The history of Brazilian coffee and sugar cane plantations and cattle ranches of Rio, Minas, Rio Grande do Sul, Pernambuco, etc. Gorgeous photos, needless to say.
Capoeira: A Brazilian Art Form. History, Philosophy, and Practice. Bira Almeida - Mestre Acordeon. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1986. It's not new, but goes to the top of the list because my husband and I got it from the author when we attended a capoeira meet in Boston. The cover picture features some instruments played for capoeira. The back cover has a very nice picture of the berimbau, so we are showing it here too. The author examines the history of capoeira, the instruments, songs and moves of the athletic game itself. A well-written, fun to read book with plenty of photographs and illustrations. I enjoyed it very much and highly recommend it to anyone interested in Afro-Brazilian culture and/or the martial arts.
SAMBA: Resistance in Motion. Barbara Browning. Bloomington and Indianopolis: Indiana University Press, 1995. Barbara is a dancer and teaches in the Department of Performance Studies at New York University.A social history of the development of samba, danced religion, capoeira and the popular dances of Bahian carnaval. This is how she describes the samba: "The feet keep up a rapid patter, while the hips beat out a heavy staccato and the shoulders roll a slow drawl." No wonder it's not easy to learn! I especially love the chapter on capoeira.
 The
Brazilians. Joseph A. Page. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing
Company, 1995. Page, a professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, has a lot to
say about the history, people, and culture of Brazil as he examines politics, religion,
soccer, carnaval, and the social and economic ills of the country.
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Samba in the Night: Spiritism in Brazil. David J. Hess. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. Hess is a professor of Anthropology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Don't let the title fool you, this is not a book about wild parties and summer nights. As Hess himself explains in the preface, a better word would have been "batuque" (drumming), as in Afro-Brazilian religions. This is a first-person narrative of the author's research into Spiritism and other popular religions in Brazil, and his encounters with mediums, healers and believers around the country. I enjoyed his comparison of the American and Brazilian Presbyterian churches and thought his comments about the "crentes" and the different "linhas de umbanda" were accurate.
A Floresta da Tijuca e a Cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Photos by Pedro Oswaldo Cruz and texts by Paulo Bastos Cezar and RogΘrio Ribeiro de Oliveira. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Nova Fronteira, 1992. Bilingual edition (Portuguese-English). With superb illustrations and magnificent photographs, this meticulously documented history of the massif and forest that surround the Brazilian megalopolis is a must-read for travelers, researchers, or anyone interested in finding out how nature and a modern city can coexist. This book gave me a better understanding of a place I've been deeply in love with for decades.
Bodies, Pleasures and Passions. Sexual Culture in Contemporary Brazil. Richard G. Parker. Boston, Beacon Press Books, 1991. Parker, a professor of anthropology in the Institute of Social Medicine at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, examines the very complex world of Brazil's sexuality, looking behind the myth of the sensual land of samba and carnaval. I finally found the origin of the expression "nπo existe pecado do lado de baixo do Equador" (sin doesn't exist beneath the equator). You'll have to read the book... How to be a Carioca. Priscilla Ann Goslin. Rio de Janeiro: Livros TwoCan Ltda., 1992. Time calls this book "a compendium of tongue-in-cheek observations...a handbook for the newcomer." We thought it was a hilarious guide to the somewhat whimsical and tortuous way-of-carioca-life. Cariocas, by the way, are the inhabitants - more strictly, natives - of Rio de Janeiro. It's an Indian word, meaning "house of the white man." Priscilla apparently has what it takes to live in Rio these days - a great sense of humor - and she's in her way trying to help you, the unsuspecting tourist, have a good stay. I used to live in Rio before it got its somewhat, shall we say, tainted reputation...My memories of that most gorgeous city are absolutely wonderful. Hope yours will be too!
Behaving Brazilian: A Comparison of Brazilian and North American Social Behavior. Phyllis A. Harrison. Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers, Inc., 1983. I think any American doing business in Brazil (or vice-versa) should read this book. More importantly, if you're a Brazilian-American family like we are, read it together. It might help smooth your path through life. It has certainly helped me understand that I'm not weird, I'm just not home! Because it was written so many years ago, it's a bit dated as far as Brazilian women go. Things have changed at an amazing pace in Brazil. In 1992, 39% of women worked outside the home and 57% had college degrees. In the universities, 62% of medical students and 19% of engineering students were women. Among my female friends and acquaintances, most have advanced degrees and very successful careers. And all their daughters - who are in medical, veterinary and law school now - cannot imagine life without a career.
Palavras Amigas-da-Onτa: A Vocabulary of False Friends in English and Portuguese. Leonard S. Downes. Rio de Janeiro: Ao Livro TΘcnico S. A., 1980. Here is a VERY useful book. I bought it in Cambridge, MA, a few years ago, and found it a great help more than once. Great for translators, interpreters, and students of either or both languages.
Vassouras: A Brazilian Coffee County, 1850-1890. The Roles of Planter and Slave in a Changing Society. Stanley J. Stein. New York: Atheneum, 1976.
The Golden Age of Brazil: 1695-1750. Growing Pains of a Colonial Society. C. R. Boxer. Los Angeles: St.Martins Press, 1995.
My Airships. Alberto-Santos Dumont, with a new introduction by Sir Peter Wykeham, K.C.B. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1973. The autobiography of the great Brazilian aviator.
Alberto Santos-Dumont. Henrique Lins de Barros. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Index, 1986. Beautifully illustrated and lovingly researched biography of Santos-Dumont in a bilingual (Portuguese-English) edition. A large, coffee-table kind of book which I am proud to show my friends!
