Samba is Brazil's "national rhythm," the foremost symbol of its culture and nationhood. To the outsider, samba and the famous pre-Lenten carnival of which it is the centerpiece seem to showcase the country's African heritage. Within Brazil, however, samba symbolizes the racial and cultural mixture that, since the 1930s, most Brazilians have come to believe defines their unique national identity. But how did Brazil become "the Kingdom of Samba" only a few decades after abolishing slavery in 1888? Typically, samba is represented as having changed spontaneously, mysteriously, from a "repressed" music of the marginal and impoverished to a national symbol cherished by all Brazilians. Here, however, Hermano Vianna shows that the nationalization of samba actually rested on a long history of relations between different social groups--poor and rich, weak and powerful--often working at cross-purposes to one another. A fascinating exploration of the "invention of tradition," The Mystery of Samba is an excellent introduction to Brazil's ongoing conversation on race, popular culture, and national identity.

Christopher Dunn's history of authoritarian Brazil exposes the inventive cultural production and intense social transformations that emerged during the rule of an iron-fisted military regime during the sixties and seventies. The Brazilian contracultura was a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that developed alongside the ascent of hardline forces within the regime in the late 1960s. Focusing on urban, middle-class Brazilians often inspired by the international counterculture that flourished in the United States and parts of western Europe, Dunn shows how new understandings of race, gender, sexuality, and citizenship erupted under even the most oppressive political conditions. Dunn reveals previously ignored connections between the counterculture and Brazilian music, literature, film, visual arts, and alternative journalism. In chronicling desbunde, the Brazilian hippie movement, he shows how the state of Bahia, renowned for its Afro-Brazilian culture, emerged as a countercultural mecca for youth in search of spiritual alternatives. As this critical and expansive book demonstrates, many of the country's social and justice movements have their origins in the countercultural attitudes, practices, and sensibilities that flourished during the military dictatorship.

First published in 1999, this volume examines the impact of political, social and cultural developments on the nation’s most popular musical form, samba, in the context of the period 1930-45, one of huge social change in Brazil, with the introduction of industrialization under the authoritarian regime of Getúlio Vargas. She looks at the context in which the songs were written, the life styles and social positions of the composers (sambistas), and their relationship to political and commercial structures. By studying samba lyrics we can obtain a clear picture of samba lyrics we can obtain a clear picture of samba’s shifting status as it was transformed from the music of working-class blacks and was appropriated by mainstream middle-class culture. The final chapters of the book focus on the lyrics of three influential sambistas: Ataúlfo Alves, Noel Rosa and Ari Barroso, and look at the manner in which their songs both comply with and flout tradition and authority.

For the first time available in English, Licia do Prado Valladares's classic anthropological study of Brazil's vast, densely populated urban living environments reveals how the idea of the favela became an internationally established—and even attractive and exotic—representation of poverty. The study traces how the term "favela" emerged as an analytic category beginning in the mid-1960s, showing how it became the object of immense popular debate and sustained social science research. But the concept of the favela so favored by social scientists is not, Valladares argues, a straightforward reflection of its social reality, and it often obscures more than it reveals. The established representation of favelas undercuts more complex, accurate, and historicized explanations of Brazilian development. It marks and perpetuates favelas as zones of exception rather than as integral to Brazil's modernization over the past century. And it has had important repercussions for the direction of research and policy affecting the lives of millions of Brazilians. Valladares's foundational book will be welcomed by all who seek to understand Brazil's evolution into the twenty-first century.

In this deftly crafted literary thriller, Brazilian author Jo Soares reimagines Conan Doyle's legendary sleuth while creating a crime novel that combines the authenticity of "The Alienist" with the exuberant fantasy of "carnival".

For the past twenty years, I have thought and developed an interest in what I call the mystery mission of salvation in Christ Jesus. This curiosity has intensified over the past three years, and I am compelled by the divine spirit of Christ Jesus to put my belief and faith in ink on paper. Apostle Paul, the greatest theologian, stated, “Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach” (1 Cor. 9:16). Like Paul, I am writing this book not of my own choice but of necessity. I believe I have been entrusted with this assignment to unveil the mystery mission of salvation in Christ Jesus. Paul stated, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died” (2 Cor. 5:14). The love shown by Christ Jesus (Gal. 2:20, Rom. 8:35–38) is the model of authentic existence and compels believers like Paul, who thought that he had no choice but to imitate the selflessness of Christ Jesus to preach the Gospel of salvation in Christ Jesus. As a believer in the Savior, our Lord, and God Christ Jesus, I am obliged to write this book about the Son of God who wrought salvation to the universe through his birth on the first Christmas Day, his mission on earth for about three years, his cruel death on the cross on the first Good Friday, and his ultimate resurrection on the first Easter Sunday morning. My purpose in this book is not to boast on human intelligence or ability; on the contrary, it is to show the love of Christ Jesus who condescended and descended humbly from his divine heavenly city to this sinful earthly city in order to bring eternal salvation to all those who believe in him. I do hope and pray ardently and fervently that this book might help just one person to come to know salvation in Christ Jesus for the first time or open the spiritual eye and mind of a believer to have a deeper and more holy understanding of the amazing grace and love of Christ Jesus, who brings salvation to humanity by his wonderful and mysterious mission of salvation, which is unveiled in this book. That person in either situation could be you.

For one year, Alma Guillermoprieto lived in Manguiera, a village near Rio de Janeiro, to learn the ritual of samba--the sensuous song and dance marked by a rapturous beat--and to take part in Rio's renowned carnivale parade.