Mario Prata interviews some Brazilians

Mario Prata resurrects famous figures from Brazilian history and uses all his irreverence to extract intimate confessions from figures like Aleijadinho, Tiradentes, and Xica da Silva. Reading the book's interviews, the reader wonders: was all this invented by Mario Prata? The author assures us that it wasn't: it's all true, although his verve makes it all more surprising, funny, and spicy. Dom Pedro I, the Marquise of Santos, and Dom João VI tell everything the people always wanted to know, and Mario Prata decided to ask. Iça-Mirim, an Indian taken to the French court, explains the origin of the expression "to drown the goose"; Dom Casmurro (a fictional creation by Machado de Assis that the author includes among Brazilian historical figures) finally explains who betrayed whom; and Dona Maria, the madwoman, between one (not at all legal) cigarette and another, tells about her reign.