Samba - Paperback

by Alma Guillermoprieto (Author)

To the 70 million poor of Brazil, dreaming and planning for Carnival is an upside down ritual for exorcising their pain--a brilliant cultural and sexual release in which sequins are brighter than diamonds; prostitutes and pimps are queens and kings, and dancing skill is more prized than power.

Front Jacket

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.

Author Biography

Alma Guillermoprieto writes frequently for the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books. She is the author of Looking for History, The Heart That Bleeds, and Samba, and she was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1995. Raised in Mexico and the United States, she now makes her home in Mexico City.