O advogado e doutor em Direito Internacional Beat Walter Rechsteiner, através de uma linguagem objetiva aborda com muita propriedade o tema da Arbitragem, desde a sua instituição pela cláusula arbitral até o sentença ou laudo arbitral. O processo de Arbitragem é examinado nos procedimentos que o constituem, sob uma perspectiva prática, conferindo efetividade ao instituto, como o meio indicado para solução de controvérsias relacionadas a direitos patrimoniais disponíveis no plano internacional. Há assim uma busca de harmonização das leis internacionais e seus diversos tratados e acordos, para uma modernização das relações comerciais internacionais.

It is a tempting to describe Benedita da Silva using labels: you may know that she was the first black woman in the Brazilian Senate or that, in spite of her national prominence, she still lives in the poor neighbourhood where she grew up. An autobiography offers the chance to learn more about her life than these obvious labels allow.

This short and highly readable book does indeed fill in some of the blanks for readers outside Brazil, who will find out more about, say, what it actually means to live in a favela (or slum). It is impossible, naturally, for Benedita to describe her life without considering how those slums came to be, and what should now be done to help the people who live there. Likewise, we may have heard that Brazil is a colourblind society, whereas Benedita's experiences, as a black person, lead her to see things differently. In this and other aspects of her life-as a woman, say, or as a rare combination of evangelical Christian and leftist politician-Benedita's memoirs naturally take us away from her particular circumstances and into areas of policy.

In some ways, then, the book is satisfying but necessarily limited. As an autobiography it usefully covers the main events in her life but does not try to go into much detail. She relates many brief episodes that make revealing, even startling, points about, say, racism or life in the favela-rather than a sustained account of (to take another example) just how she first came to be involved in the local community association.

On the other hand, her thumbnail sketches of current issues in Brazilian life and society-issues such as land reform, health and education, or the role of the churches-may indeed be helpful to those who know little about Brazil. Of course, given the nature of the book as a memoir, they don't enable us to get very far in analysing the relevant causes and prospects.

If my last two paragraphs appear negative, they are only intended to point out that the book is too short for us to find out what "really" makes Benedita tick, much less to cover the complexity of modern Brazil. Nevertheless, the book is helpful and the translator has certainly come up with an easy style that makes it a pleasure to read. Even though I was already quite familiar with Brazil (having lived there, and speaking Portuguese), I still found this book intriguing and enjoyable.

Birds in Brazil is a big book, beautifully produced on quality paper. It is exhaustive but never exhausting on the topic of Brazilian birds . The color illustrations are beautiful, but unfortunately they are separate from the text about the birds. That is the book's only fault. The text is in smooth and enticing English, and where the same birds are to be found migrating to the United States, the information is quite comparable in completion and interest to the American field guides of Roger T. Peterson. That leads me to believe that the information about birds that we don't experience will be equally accurate. This book is captivating and well worth the price. It is a coffee-table style book that we will be proud to use and to display.

I am a first grade teacher and we study Brazil. It is a great book and my students love it! A ticket to... (country's name) you can also order for other countries. I am thinking of buying a few more on other countries we are studying.

Dos Passos is always good, so Brazil on the Move is good, too. If you're looking for a detailed nonfiction book on Brazil, this one is great. And if you're not particularly interested in Brazil, you'll at least feel a confident knowledge on the subject. It's hard to find this title, though, so if you get your hands on it by any chance, you should definitely appreciate the opportunity to read it.

"Brazil-Maru" is the story of a Japanese colony in the countryside of Sao Paulo State throughout the twentieth century. Although the locations and ideas are real, the story itself is not. "Brazil-Maru" is an interesting book with living characters and is a good "fictional" account of the lives of Japanese immigrants to Brazil in this past century.

Conciseness is at the same time the best and the worst characteristic of Schneider's book. The first 88 pages are a very fast paced summary of Brazil geography and history up to 1964. The first chapter on Brazil regions is important but very badly written. Not only most of the Portuguese names are misspelled but the kind of information begs for tables and thematic maps. The only three tables presented in the entire book are hideous.

Conciseness can easily slip to oversimplification and there are some connections the book tries to make to what I cannot agree. One example is the statement that the party structure during the Empire period (mid 19th century) still remains. Another example of exaggeration is when the author calls the 1994 presidential election the most complicated and important in the whole New World History.

On the positive side Schneider is very competent in pinpoint the main problems that haunt Brazil. The gross congressional under representation of the most populated states, the paternalistic approach to the role of the State, the Brazilian dream of a messianic leader, the chaotic party structure and the idea that the law is a burden and people should just try to be reasonable.

Outstanding is the chapter on Brazilian culture, especially the section on literature and interpersonal relations where terms such as pistolao, panelinha, parentela, jeitinho as well as the "do you know whom are you speaking to" approach are explained. Noteworthy also is the section on racial relations.

The good part of the book is 130 pages long (pages 89 till 218). The first 88 pages don't really add to the book and may scare the less patient reader. My suggestion to the author is to get rid of it and create a really concise 130 pages book. The other idea is to expand the first 88 pages loosing the conciseness. It's a tough call but the way the book is and considering that it costs [price] I would rather buy Skidmore's Brazil: Five Centuries of Change plus Page's The Brazilians. The two will set you back [price] but you'll enjoy over 800 pages of Brazil and the Brazilians.

Leonardo Alves - Tucson, Arizona - August 2002

This book is very good at describing, in deep detail, the events that have shaped the Brazilian economy into what it is today. With a bias more towards history than economics, the book reads like storytelling sometimes, with less analysis than I had hoped for. The description of today's Brazilian economy is shorter than I had hoped for, but sufficient for a basic introduction.

The book serves as reference as well for any historical fact affecting Brazil's economy, especially in the late 20th century.

Latin American Research Review, No. 35/1, 2000, contains a review article entitled "The Brazilianists' Brazil: Interdisciplinary Portraits of Brazilian Society and Culture," by Piers Armstrong. It contains about a page and a half on "Brazilian Mosaic." I suggest you may want to include that excerpt as a review of my book.

G. Harvey Summ

Morais gets better every time one more of his books hits the shelves. Not only does he put a face to a name (as he did many times before) but in the process he is a masterful storyteller bringing light and truth to otherwise "officialized" history.