No comments about Teach Yourself Beginner's Portuguese (Set4) (Ty: Beginner's Courses).

1 comments about Voyage of the Liberdade: A Journey from Brazil to America in a Hand-Built Boat.

1. Everything that I have read by Slocum has been an enjoyable glimpse into history. This little book is no exception. It gives a first-hand look at the sailing world in the late 1800's.

No comments about Brazil: The Land (Lands, Peoples, and Cultures).

No comments about Travel Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - illustrated guide, phrasebook, and maps. FREE general info and a map in the trial version.

1 comments about Brazil: A Land of the Future (Studies in Austrian Literature, Culture, and Thought Translation Series).

1. Stefan Zweig draws upon his personal experiences andimpressions of Brazil to portray a vast, inviting, fertile land of immense resources and a history devoid of major wars in Brazil: A Land Of The Future. Here portrayed is the untouched beauty of the Brazilian interior, the vibrant growth and progress of the urban areas, and a vision of an almost utopian place seemingly unaffected by the ills of the modern world and providing refuge from global hostilities. Ably translated into English by Lowell A. Bangerter, Brazil: A Land Of The Future is recommended reading for armchair travelers, students of geography and western hemispheric studies, and Brazilian history, culture, and society.

No comments about Paraguay, Brazil and the Plate.

No comments about Mato Grosso, Last Virgin Land: An Account of the Mato Grosso, Based on the Royal Society and Royal Geographical Society Expedition to Central Brazil,.

2 comments about "Civilizing" Rio: Reform and Resistance in a Brazilian City, 1889-1930.

1. This a major addition to the social history of urban life in Brazil, and Latin America generally. By shifting the emphasis from workplace struggles to conflict over urban space, Meade allows us to rethink dramatic and sometimes puzzling episodes of popular protest in turn-of-the-century Rio de Janeiro (such as the revolt against compulsory smallpox vaccination). Her argument that these protests should be seen as part of the contest over capitalist modernization, and are no less "modern" than workplace struggles in nearby Sao Paulo, adds to the ongoing discussion of political consciousness as forming in struggles both within and beyond the point of production. Meade also explores the implications of "urban beautification" for the popular classes in a way that connects processes in Rio with broader global tendencies during the Age of Imperialism. Finally, the book is highly readable and accessible to the non-specialist, and can be used in courses ranging from introductory undergraduate surveys to graduate seminars.



2. This book provides both a useful overview of urban social history in turn-of-the-century Rio de Janeiro and a unique and convincing analysis of how poor urban and suburban residents responded to urban renewal projects. The author places her analysis in an engaging, accessible, and accurate narrative of the city's broader history, weaving together the findings of a broad array of specialized secondary works. Her own primary research on popular protests provides a crucial part of this history, and her conclusions are suggestive of how popular movements might be understood elsewhere as well. The book shows that the effects of undemocratic urban administration can be disasterous for the least powerful sectors of the population. Yet is also shows that the urban poor were by no means "marginalized," nor did they decline to participate in orderly, legal forms of protest. Riots and violence exploded in Rio only after poor residents had tolerated arbitrary and violent government implementation of urban policies, and after they had found other avenues of appeal to government officials closed. This book is effective in undergraduate and graduate courses alike. In addition to providing an excellent overview of Rio's early twentieth-century history, the book stimulates students to think critically about urbanization, class conflict, forms of protest, and the peculiar concerns of non-industrial nations to create images of order and civilization in the early twentieth century.

4 comments about Why is This Country Dancing?: A One-Man Samba to the Beat of Brazil.

1. This is supposed to be a book about Brazilian music, but it's obvious the author knows nothing about the subject. He meets some of the most illustrious names in MPB, yet asks inane questions or tries to be funny at their expense. Many times it seems as if he had never heard the music of the person he was interviewing. In addition, each page is full of factual errors and misspelled Portuguese words. If you like Krich's flippant writing style you may like the book. But if you want to learn about Brazilian music, go elsewhere.



2. Superficial, lame, irritating and full of mistakes. Why was this even published?



3. Well, I have to disagree somewhat with the comments of my amateur book-reviewing collegues. This is not a book about Brazilian music, it's a book about Brazil seen through it's music. I'll agree that as a book about Brazilian music, it fails miserably. As a book about Brazil... well it doesn't succeed, but only because no country or populace in the world can truly be understood through just one viewpoint. Brazil=music is a handy way of ttrying to look at the subject, but ultimately as false as any other single assumption. Laudibly, Krich is observent enough to write about the harsh realities that lie behind Brazil's image of sun, samba, and mulattas (Therefore 2 stars instead of just 1). Nevertheless, the end result is the same as if a foreigner wrote about the U.S. as interpreted through jazz after visiting L.A., Chicago, and New York and then taking a bus tour through the Deep South. A good itinerary to write about jazz, but not if you are writing about the country as a whole. The base premise defeats the purpose of the book.



4. Krich's literate yet frequently caustic style may irritate many yet few writers are as capable of communicating the cacophony of third world musical forms now competing for our attention. I very much enjoyed this witty book and found its strong rhythm as irresistible as Brazilian music. If you love CARNAVAL few have ever captured the gringo experience in words as well Krich.

No comments about Brasil.