A sweeping and absorbing biography of Brazil, from the sixteenth century to the present Brazil is a land of contradictions: vast natural resources and entrenched corruption; extraordinary wealth and grinding poverty; beautiful beaches and violence-torn favelas. Brazil occupies a vivid place in the American imagination, and yet it remains largely unknown. In an extraordinary journey that spans five hundred years, from European colonization to the 2016 Summer Olympics, the book offers a rich, dramatic history of this complex country. The authors not only reconstruct the epic story of the nation but follow the shifting byways of food, art, and popular culture; the plights of minorities; and the ups and downs of economic cycles. "Detailed and deeply reasoned . . . Illuminating, engrossing, and consistently thoughtful." - The New York Review of Books. “A thoughtful and profound journey into the soul of Brazil.” — Laurentino Gomes, Folha de São Paulo.