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Dancing with the Devil in the City of God: Rio de Janeiro and the Olympic Dream

Product ID : 15778386


Galleon Product ID 15778386
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About Dancing With The Devil In The City Of God: Rio De

Product Description From prizewinning journalist and Brazilian native Juliana Barbassa comes a deeply reported and beautifully written account of the seductive and chaotic city of Rio de Janeiro as it struggles with poverty and corruption on the brink of the 2016 Olympic Games. Juliana Barbassa moved a great deal throughout her life, but Rio was always home. After twenty-one years abroad, she returned to find her native city—once ravaged by inflation, drug wars, corrupt leaders, and dying neighborhoods—undergoing a major change. Rio has always aspired to the pantheon of global capitals, and under the spotlight of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games it seems that its moment has come. But in order to prepare itself for the world stage, Rio must vanquish the entrenched problems that Barbassa recalls from her childhood. Turning this beautiful but deeply flawed place into a pristine showcase of the best that Brazil has to offer in just a few years is a tall order—and with the whole world watching, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Library Journal called Dancing with the Devil in the City of God “akin to Charlie LeDuff’s Detroit”—a book that “combines history and personal interviews in an informative and engaging work.” This kaleidoscopic portrait of Rio introduces the reader to the people who make up this city of extremes, revealing their aspirations and their grit, their violence, their hungers, and their splendor, and shedding light on the future of this city they are building together. Dancing with the Devil in the City of God is an insider perspective from a native daughter and “a fascinating look at the people who live in and aspire to change one of the world’s most impressive cities” ( Booklist, starred review). Review A powerful work ofreportage. Eloquent, heartfelt, and thorough, Barbassa is a brilliant guide tothe underside of Brazil s showcase city. If you want to understand twenty firstcentury Rio de Janeiro, read this book.--Alex Bellos, author of Futebol: the Brazilian Way of Life" A timelytour-de-force Drawing on the city s history, geography, social structure, culture, political intrigues, and economic disparities, Barbassa has written amultidisciplinary masterpiece. This splendid and accessible narrative is mustreading not just for the journalists, spectators, and athletes who will be inRio for the Olympic Games, but for anyone who has visited Rio or not andhas been caught up in the magnetic attraction of this spectacular andcomplicated city.--Dr. Robert Maguire, Director of the Brazil Initiative at the Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University" Ibecame unexpectedly choked up not once but twice in the introduction alone andfound myself sucked into the most in-depth, personal and thorough unfolding ofBrazil s history on the brink of its economic rebirth. Whether as ananticipatory read before Brazil hosts the Olympics in 2016 or to better grasp acountry so rich, complex and divided by extreme dualities of lifestyles, thisis a book that you will be unable to set down. Juliana Barbassa brings usboth a journalistic and introspective vantage point of a country in the midstof a metamorphose with the unique angle of a native born Brazilian returninghome forever a foreigner after living abroad for much of her life with awell-worn passport. Contemporarily relevant, uniquely compelling, exquisitelywritten and brilliantly delivered, I anticipate many readers, like myself, willfind our passport soon bearing the stamp of Brazil thanks to Barbassa.--Jesica Sweedler DeHart, BookPeople of Moscow (Moscow, Idaho)" IsBrazil ready to take its place as the 6th largest world economy andis Rio ready to host the 2016 summer Olympics? Will the monumentalsocial and political changes currently underway last beyond the final medalceremony? Barbassa's well written and informative expose is a fascinatinglook at Rio s history and attempts to transform itself into a safe, democraticand ultimately mod