Rio de Janeiro

By Luiz Eduardo Soares,

Book cover of Rio de Janeiro: Extreme City

Book description

A book as rich and sprawling as the seductive metropolis it evokes, Rio de Janeiro builds a kaleidoscopic portrait of this city of extremes, and its history of conflict and corruption. Award-winning novelist, ex-government minister and sociologist Luiz Eduardo Soares tells the story of Rio through the everyday lives of…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep the lights on. Or join the rebellion as a member.

Why read it?

1 author picked Rio de Janeiro as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Luiz Eduardo Soares is a Brazilian anthropologist who served as the Coordinator of Public Safety in Rio de Janeiro in 1999 and the National Secretary of Public Security in 2003. As a consequence, he has a unique and very personal take on the relationship between poverty, drugs, and violence, and drugs at the local and country level. This book offers the reader a series of engaging essays on Soares’ experiences in office, revealing the near impossibility of reforming the system in the face of endemic corruption and a culture of violence in the public sphere. It is a great read!

From Robert's list on the drugs and violence in Brazil.

Want books like Rio de Janeiro?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Rio de Janeiro.

Browse books like Rio de Janeiro

Book cover of Laughter Out of Place: Race, Class, Violence, and Sexuality in a Rio Shantytown
Book cover of Children of the Drug Trade
Book cover of The Killing Consensus: Police, Organized Crime, and the Regulation of Life and Death in Urban Brazil

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,099

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and anthropology?

Rio De Janeiro 12 books
Brazil 76 books
Anthropology 104 books