Terra: Struggle of the Landless [Hardcover]

Sebastiao Salgado (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1997

This work represents the first part of Sebastiao Salgado's project to chart the displacement of peoples across geographical and political boundries. In a series of photographs, Salgado shows the efforts of Brazilian peasants to survive in the face of joblessness and extreme poverty and to reclaim the land they see as their natural heritage. Introduced by the Portuguese writer Jose Saramango and accompanied by the poems of Brazilian composer and singer Chico Buarque de Hollanda, "Terra" provides a photographic record of the struggles of the "landless" of Brazil.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Because death belongs to all, so too should life," observes Portuguese writer José Saramago in a preface to this remarkable volume of black-and-white images. But death is easy and life is hard in Sebastião Salgado's native Brazil, where exploitation of labor and mechanization of agriculture have combined to paint a bleak future for the country's rural population. Even the faces of small children are clouded with despair in this book, which is at once a testament to human courage and a powerful argument for agrarian reform--a long-promised and long-delayed reform that has led to a bloody struggle to take possession of unused land in private hands.

From Library Journal

Not as broad as Salgado's majestic, international Workers (LJ 10/1/93), this book is all the more poignant for its focus on one people in the photographer's homeland of Brazil. The more than 100 images taken between 1980 and 1996 have been brought together to commemorate the April 1996 massacre of landless farmhands in the state of Para. As many as 20 million Brazilians currently camp on rural roadsides or in suburban shanty towns with neither work nor a place to call home since being displaced by industrialized factory farms or large cattle ranches. Whether capturing boys at play with animal bones, an informal prayer gathering beneath a cactus, or masses rallying to reclaim land left fallow by the conglomerates, the images always shine with the dignity and sense of respect for his subjects that characterizes all Salgado's work. The heartrending introduction, written in the form of a lyric letter to God by Portuguese writer Jose Saramago, perfectly complements the photographs, while the extensive captions at the end tell the full story of this downtrodden people. Photojournalism at its best, this work belongs in most libraries.?Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714836362
• ISBN-13: 978-0714836362
• Product Dimensions: 13.3 x 10.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,458,492 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will blow you away, you will not know yourself..., December 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Terra: Struggle of the Landless (Photography) (Paperback)

I took a look at this book in a book store, here in Berkeley Ca. The people you meet as you flip thru the photos make you want to re-examine your own life. Most of the people in these photographs have extremely difficult lives, due to a twist of fate rather than a personal choice. Salgado has not photographed them for pity or to gain sympathy from you, as much as he has shown you a side of yourself... and I am not talking about a "mirror" either. (I am talking about the side that you CAN'T see without Salgado's camera)

These people struggle and may suffer personal tragedies, but there is dignity in their souls. When you see these people, they may not be in control of their fate, whatever terrible fate it may be, but they are in control of their hearts. The blood that runs through the veins of the people Salgado introduced me to, in the photos from the other side of the globe, flows deeper, and redder, and richer than does the blood in my world...

Their lives are fleeting and so is yours my friend, but I believe they have wings; we do not. While you and I are burdened with the weight of unfunny jokes and political scandals, they are free, burdened only with broken hearts and bones that heal fast and clean...

I could not afford the price of the book myself, I could barely afford to stand there as long as I did reading the book; I mean how long can one view a side of oneself so rarely llumiminated?

Once I thought, all I needed to know was God, or to know a beautiful woman, or maybe just smile to bystanders... but I realize I KNOW NOTHING... and that leaves a lot for me to want to know, still. Good luck to you if you should get this book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lesson in empathy!!!, March 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Terra: Struggle of the Landless (Photography) (Paperback)

A poignant illustration of the landless plight in Brazil! As evidenced by another reviewer, this book has the ability to thaw the heart of even the most ultra conservative (e.g. "Most of the people in these photographs have extremely difficult lives, due to a twist of fate rather than a personal choice.") They are landless because most middle-class Brazilians view the landless as making horrible life choices as opposed to being pushed by the wind of fate...and ironically they think descendents of Africans in the United States have much to teach "their" Amerindians and African populations about success. The irony! Yes, read it, see it, and see yourself.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A mirror pointed at our soul, September 2, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Vila Real, Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Terra: Struggle of the Landless (Hardcover)

Once again, Sebastiao Salgado is back, and with two heavy weights by his side: Jose Saramago (preface) and Chico Buarque (poems).
Like all his previous works, the camera that made `Terra' points to the heart of all human being worthy of that classification; with Chico's poems pointing at each ones soul and Saramago's pen pointing at our conscience (and that of God), if this book does not make us see the world in a whole different way, then we better worry before looking at the mirror...
Fernando Gouveia ([e-mail]), Vila Real, Portugal