My Discovery of Brazil: 500 Years After Cabral is a first-hand account of a farmland owner-settler in the state of Pernambuco in northeast Brazil. With her background in anthropology, Anna Russell has explored the national character of Brazil, borne out of her personal experiences, in a narrative that deals with the Brazilian People and their attitude towards work and land in the backdrop of land-grabbing movements of the MST. Her long stay as a fazenda owner, from 1972-2000, forms the basis of a book that reflects an immigrant's perspectives on the Brazilian system, the vice-like grip of the local mafia, as well as the world views, attitudes and prejudices of a developing brazil that tries to modernize and make rapid strides.

A useful book to further one's understanding of Brazil and its political, economic and social systems.