Read about another book on the list.The Violent Land by Jorge Amado
Amado's novel about the 1920s cacao wars in north-east Brazil is an epic tale of greed, lust, love and murder. Two powerful families, led by Zinho Badaros and Horacio Silveira, battle over the virgin forest of Sequeiro Grande, which they want to develop as cacao plantations – to increase their wealth and power.
These tough, wealthy men of the Bahia region use lawyers and gunmen to assist in their land-grabbing through deceit and violence. Workers flock to the lawless land with dreams of making quick fortunes, but find only brutal regimes on the plantations that keep them in near-slave conditions as they face disease and death.
For the conquistadors of this new land "fertilised by blood", it is the best in the world for planting cacao, which is "worth more than gold".
Amado vividly describes life in the local towns – with their landowners, adventurers, assassins, prostitutes and corrupt officials – inspired by his time growing up in the region, the son of a cocoa planter.
The Violent Land is reputed to be the greatest novel by Brazil's best-selling author and was his favourite. A sometime Communist party member, Amado endured prison and exile in the 1930s and 40s. He died in 2001.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
