Abbot John

The Canudos War was a momentous and unprecedented event in Brazilian history: a poverty-stricken, starving, illiterate people, completely unprepared for war, clashed with military troops. The episode was immortalized in Os sertões (The Backlands), by Euclides da Cunha, a journalist who portrayed the events from the military's perspective. In João Abade, the Canudos War is seen from a new perspective: that of the followers of Antônio Conselheiro, the war's leader. Using the letters and notebooks of one of the few literate Canudos residents, João Felício dos Santos reconstructs the setting of the war, chronicling the internal struggles, relationships, and personal dramas of a decimated people.