"A Death In Brazil" by Peter Robb

It took me several months to finish this. I had gotten sucked into the insatiable internet vortex and I only read when I was on the train. A pretty amazing book. There are three story lines interspersed with each other. They are essentially:
1. the history of Brazil
2. politics and corruption surrounding the recent (book was published in 2004) Presidential elections and the emergence of democracy,
3. the writer's personal experiences there.

I picked this book at the dollar store. Sometimes I find a real gem in the bargain bin.

From page 290:


"Res Publica". Now that is an interesting term. I have often wondered why all the governments in the America's South of the U.S. were so corrupt. Of course we have our share of corruption, but for some reason the U.S. is richer (so we can afford it?). Or maybe our corruption is not as bad as these other countries, or maybe we are the biggest dog on the block, and no one from the outside is messing with our politics. I like to think the U.S. has the best system of government, but as someone once said, our system is the absolute worst, except for all the others.

And then there was that one remark about pineapples that I quoted earlier.

Update January 2017 replaced missing picture.