Passed in colorful Rio de Janeiro, Lost Samba is a poignant memoir of Brazil. Featuring the sixties, the seventies and the eighties, the book gives a powerful insight into a period when the current host of the summer Olympics struggled out of a dictatorship to discover itself as a free and democratic society. Lost Samba also describes how the author’s trials to gain his own Brazilian identity as the son of British immigrants in this complex and fascinating country. It is an easy, yet multi-layered read, a must if you want to become friends with Brazil.
Richard Klein was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1962 – the same year that the Rolling Stones and the Beatles recorded their first singles and the same year that Brazil would win its second FIFA world cup. His British-Jewish parents, had moved to a booming Rio de Janeiro in the wake of World War II, and would soon prosper. They would never, however, fully adapt to their new land, – and certainly not to either football or rock n’ roll. Richard, nonetheless, would grow up to love both. In fact, this is the heart of the story: the author’s journey of discovery of the land of his birth, as well as adventuring into the brave new world of rock culture in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, all under the sinister shadow of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil at this time.
Richard shows, first hand, the enjoyment and excesses of his generation’s urban élite of the lifestyle secured for them by the military rule. Ha also shows the country crawling from under the claws of that regime and, ultimately, the unfolding of one of the worst economic disasters in Brazilian history.
This book peers through the many clichés about Brazil, and surprises the reader with anecdotes, adventures, reflections and facts, while managing to be a useful resource for those wishing to understand this huge country.
Although the Lost Samba takes the form of a memoir it offers powerful historical and political insights into the recent history of the ‘sleeping giant’. The author was born into a rare position of being the son of British-Jewish immigrants to Brazil who was fully educated there. With this outsider-insider background, and with an adventurous and politicized spirit, Richard experienced the intense moments that gave birth to the country's democracy. As an author who is able to understand the Brazilian mentality and history as clearly as the ‘first world’ mindset, his writing is ideal for those seeking to understand how Brazil functions.
This is the fully revised, second edition, of Lost Samba. The book has also been re-designed and now has illustrations while the e-book now contains a plethora of links to help give the reader a comprehensive experience.
Richard Klein was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1962 – the same year that the Rolling Stones and the Beatles recorded their first singles and the same year that Brazil would win its second FIFA world cup. His British-Jewish parents, had moved to a booming Rio de Janeiro in the wake of World War II, and would soon prosper. They would never, however, fully adapt to their new land, – and certainly not to either football or rock n’ roll. Richard, nonetheless, would grow up to love both. In fact, this is the heart of the story: the author’s journey of discovery of the land of his birth, as well as adventuring into the brave new world of rock culture in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, all under the sinister shadow of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil at this time.
Richard shows, first hand, the enjoyment and excesses of his generation’s urban élite of the lifestyle secured for them by the military rule. Ha also shows the country crawling from under the claws of that regime and, ultimately, the unfolding of one of the worst economic disasters in Brazilian history.
This book peers through the many clichés about Brazil, and surprises the reader with anecdotes, adventures, reflections and facts, while managing to be a useful resource for those wishing to understand this huge country.
Although the Lost Samba takes the form of a memoir it offers powerful historical and political insights into the recent history of the ‘sleeping giant’. The author was born into a rare position of being the son of British-Jewish immigrants to Brazil who was fully educated there. With this outsider-insider background, and with an adventurous and politicized spirit, Richard experienced the intense moments that gave birth to the country's democracy. As an author who is able to understand the Brazilian mentality and history as clearly as the ‘first world’ mindset, his writing is ideal for those seeking to understand how Brazil functions.
This is the fully revised, second edition, of Lost Samba. The book has also been re-designed and now has illustrations while the e-book now contains a plethora of links to help give the reader a comprehensive experience.
