BRAZIL

 
Samba
Alma Guillermoprieto

Superb account of life in a Rio slum told through the links with a samba

 
A concise history of Brazil
Boris Fausto

Extremely readable sweep through the past
 
The Violent Land
Jorge Amado
Probably the greatest novel written by Brazil's best-selling author, who died in 2001
 
Fordlandia
 
Eduard Sguiglia

Superb novel of man's (in this case Henry Ford's) struggle against nature