Rating: 
Summary: Already a classic of committed scholarship.
Review: "Death Without Weeping" is perhaps the most profound & moving academic work I know from this decade, & contributes brilliantly to debates on many important current issues. It sets an extremely high standard of in-depth research, theoretical insight, political commitment and compassion.
Rating: 
Summary: Nancy Scheper-Hughes takes a critical-interpretive approach.
Review: Although this book is to be praised as a fine piece of scholarship and field work, I did not enjoy reading it that much. Here I will jump off into pure personal opinion. I think the author interceded way too much between the reader and what she observed in shantytown life in northeast Brazil, interpreting things for the reader from start to finish. I feel the reason she did so is because she was afraid to simply tell the reader what she observed, because she felt there were 999 chances out of a thousand that the reader would "not understand". Mostly the author "interpreted" without even telling the reader what the facts were which she was interpreting. It was obvious that the author had seen hundreds of stories of what a normal observer would call child neglect to the point of where the child died, yet it was like she was these people's mother and couldn't bear the thought of what she had seen as being, in some else's eyes, perhaps akin to murder. I wish she had given us the facts, and then she could have given us her opinion, while letting the reader make up their own mind. The real story of a culture where mothers starve their children to death every day would be fascinating, and then we could decide whether we wanted to forgive them or interpret the situation as does the auther. I'm not saying she's wrong, but she simply didn't give us the "real story", ie, all the facts. She may well be right, but the facts would be fascinating.Michael Chesser
Rating: 
Summary: Not a great read
Review: Although this book is to be praised as a fine piece of scholarship and field work, I did not enjoy reading it that much. Here I will jump off into pure personal opinion. I think the author interceded way too much between the reader and what she observed in shantytown life in northeast Brazil, interpreting things for the reader from start to finish. I feel the reason she did so is because she was afraid to simply tell the reader what she observed, because she felt there were 999 chances out of a thousand that the reader would "not understand". Mostly the author "interpreted" without even telling the reader what the facts were which she was interpreting. It was obvious that the author had seen hundreds of stories of what a normal observer would call child neglect to the point of where the child died, yet it was like she was these people's mother and couldn't bear the thought of what she had seen as being, in some else's eyes, perhaps akin to murder. I wish she had given us the facts, and then she could have given us her opinion, while letting the reader make up their own mind. The real story of a culture where mothers starve their children to death every day would be fascinating, and then we could decide whether we wanted to forgive them or interpret the situation as does the auther. I'm not saying she's wrong, but she simply didn't give us the "real story", ie, all the facts. She may well be right, but the facts would be fascinating. Michael Chesser
Rating:
Summary: Scheper-Hughes At Her Very Best
Review: I have seen death without weeping. The destiny of the Northeast is death. Cattle they kill, But to the people they do something worse. --Geraldo Vandre, Disparada "Death Without Weeping: Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil" is a brilliant anthropological and sociological depiction of life in the Nordeste region of Brazil. In Death Without Weeping, Scheper-Hughes carefully analyzes the Mother-Child relationship in a region of Brazil with the highest infant mortality rate in Latin America. Centered in the village of Alto do Cruziero, Scheper-Hughes continues to work with the community she had first joined as a Peace Corps volunteer decades before. Rekindling her relationship with the villagers and the land, she takes a new perspective to study the emotional and physical strain on a region where every life is touched with the pain of infant mortality. She examines the frightening reality of a place where mothers have absolutely no safety net and cannot protect their children from the disease, hunger, and destitute living conditions. Scheper-Hughes further discusses the role of international corporations and their influence (usually negative) in the Nordeste region. Death Without Weeping is absolutely brilliant. Scheper-Hughes is at her finest, and her work is impeccable. This is one of the finest works of sociology and anthropology I have read.
Rating:
Summary: Scheper-Hughes At Her Very Best
Review: I have seen death without weeping. The destiny of the Northeast is death. Cattle they kill, But to the people they do something worse. --Geraldo Vandre, Disparada "Death Without Weeping: Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil" is a brilliant anthropological and sociological depiction of life in the Nordeste region of Brazil. In Death Without Weeping, Scheper-Hughes carefully analyzes the Mother-Child relationship in a region of Brazil with the highest infant mortality rate in Latin America. Centered in the village of Alto do Cruziero, Scheper-Hughes continues to work with the community she had first joined as a Peace Corps volunteer decades before. Rekindling her relationship with the villagers and the land, she takes a new perspective to study the emotional and physical strain on a region where every life is touched with the pain of infant mortality. She examines the frightening reality of a place where mothers have absolutely no safety net and cannot protect their children from the disease, hunger, and destitute living conditions. Scheper-Hughes further discusses the role of international corporations and their influence (usually negative) in the Nordeste region. Death Without Weeping is absolutely brilliant. Scheper-Hughes is at her finest, and her work is impeccable. This is one of the finest works of sociology and anthropology I have read.
Rating:
Summary: Scheper-Hughes At Her Very Best
Review: I have seen death without weeping. The destiny of the Northeast is death. Cattle they kill, But to the people they do something worse. --Geraldo Vandre, Disparada "Death Without Weeping: Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil" is a brilliant anthropological and sociological depiction of life in the Nordeste region of Brazil. In Death Without Weeping, Scheper-Hughes carefully analyzes the Mother-Child relationship in a region of Brazil with the highest infant mortality rate in Latin America. Centered in the village of Alto do Cruziero, Scheper-Hughes continues to work with the community she had first joined as a Peace Corps volunteer decades before. Rekindling her relationship with the villagers and the land, she takes a new perspective to study the emotional and physical strain on a region where every life is touched with the pain of infant mortality. She examines the frightening reality of a place where mothers have absolutely no safety net and cannot protect their children from the disease, hunger, and destitute living conditions. Scheper-Hughes further discusses the role of international corporations and their influence (usually negative) in the Nordeste region. Death Without Weeping is absolutely brilliant. Scheper-Hughes is at her finest, and her work is impeccable. This is one of the finest works of sociology and anthropology I have read.
Rating:
Summary: Already a classic of committed scholarship.
Review: Nancy Scheper-Hughes book "Death without Weeping" is an excellent anthropological account of life and survival in modern day Brazil. This book is definitely worthwhile. As a newcomer to Latin American studies or as a research tool to those well studied in this area, this book offers endless amounts of information. The facts are well coupled with excellent discussions involving specific individuals. I would absolutely recommend this book!!!!
Rating:
Summary: captivating account of life in Brazil
Review: Nancy Scheper-Hughes book "Death without Weeping" is an excellent anthropological account of life and survival in modern day Brazil. This book is definitely worthwhile. As a newcomer to Latin American studies or as a research tool to those well studied in this area, this book offers endless amounts of information. The facts are well coupled with excellent discussions involving specific individuals. I would absolutely recommend this book!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Nancy Scheper-Hughes takes a critical-interpretive approach.
Review: Nancy Scheper-Hughes' book "Death Without Weeping" is an outstanding piece of a true anthropological approach to studying a difficult concept: Mothers in Brazil do not mourn for dead infants. Coming from America, it seems difficult to understand the lack of innate "Mother Love." Scheper-Hughes looks at both the political-economic problems in Brazil as a coutry as well as the beliefs and meanings that mothers living in a Shantytown place on their infants (dead or alive). By looking at records, talking to officials, and researching the history of Brazil, Nancy Scheper-Hughes is able to understand how the state of the political and econimic system in Brazil is partially responsible for the horrible deaths and indifferent mothers living in these shantytowns. Alternatively she has been able to get a true understanding of what meanings these women place on their infants death. By looking at both sides, the way Scheper-Hughes has done, we can obtain a better understanding of the true problem and how the people deal with it. Although Nancy Scheper-Hughes does not offer solutions in this book, she tells all of the clues needed to find a solution. Great Book!
Rating:
Summary: Not for the faint of heart
Review: Scheper-Hughes's book is certainly the most impacting book I have read in months. I cannot call it entertaining but it is riveting in presenting a mind-boggling situation of abject poverty in Northeastern Brazil with its consequent infant and child mortality and impacts on the family structure. Death Without Weeping is a very original, very relevant, and carefully written book although not perfect. The book is the result of extensive field research by Dr. Scheper-Hughes, Professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley but nevertheles very readable. I could understand and enjoy most of it without having had extensive training in Anthropology. The author does a wonderful job in translating Alto do Cruzeiro reality into something the average American can understand. This "translation" certainly adds a bias but is still indispensable in my opinion. I consider that the author's religious beliefs strongly affected the outcome of the book and that I think could have been avoided. I understand that the author has it's ethics and wouldn't reveal in the text the actual location name for Bom Jesus da Mata. I'm not tied by the same ethics so I can tell it: Bom Jesus da Mata is actually Timbauba, a 60,000 inhabitants town on the outskirts of Recife. The book subtitle, "The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil" couldn't be worse. Timbauba is not Brazil. It has its own very specific problems and to read the book without understanding the great diversity among Brazil's regions would be very unfair to the country. Even in a local scale, Alto do Cruzeiro is not Timabuba and Timbauba is not Pernambuco. If you read the book don't rule out the possibility of going down to Brazil and having a wonderful time there. Tourism is a very good way of alleviating if not solving the problems presented in the book. I have read now dozens of books written in English by the so-called Brazilianists who most of the times are not Brazilians themselves. Most of the books have the same problem of Death Without Weeping: there's a total sloppiness in spelling the Portuguese words. I can't believe UC Berkeley couldn't hire a Brazilian graduate student to proofread the originals. Moreover, the Geraldo Vandre quote on the very first page of the book, which gives the book its name was completely fabricated. Disparada is a great song and for writing songs such as "Disparada" and "Para Nao Dizer Que Nao Falei Das Flores", Geraldo Vandre was captured and tortured by the military dictatorship in Brazil. He was later released but severely braindamaged. However, the verses Scheper-Hughes quoted do not exist in "Disparada". I was shocked to learn on the book's Epilogue who Seu Jacques, whom the book is dedicated to, was. But this suspense I'm not going to break. Leonardo Alves - Houghton, MI - October 2002
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