Beef, Bible and bullets: Brazil in the age of Bolsonaro

by Richard Lapper

Backed by Brazil's wealthy agribusiness groups, a growing evangelical movement, and an emboldened military and police force, Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019. Driven by the former army captain's brand of controversial, aggressive rhetoric, the divisive presidential campaign saw fake news and misinformation shared with Bolsonaro's tens of millions of social media followers. Bolsonaro promised simple solutions to Brazil's rising violent crime, falling living standards and widespread corruption, but what has emerged is Latin America's most right-wing president since the military dictatorships of the 1970s. Famous for his racist, homophobic and sexist beliefs and his disregard for human rights, the so-called 'Trump of the Tropics' has established a reputation based on his polemical, sensationalist statements. Written by a journalist with decades of experience in the field, Beef, Bible and bullets is a compelling account of the origins of Brazil's unique brand of right-wing populism. Lapper offers the first major assessment of the Bolsonaro government and the growing tensions between extremist and moderate conservatives.

Genres: Politics, Brazil, History, Nonfiction, International

344 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 3, 2021

Reviews

[Ahmed Limam · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the end of the book, in the Acknowledgements section, Richard Lapper thanks "Graham Hillyard's impressively detailed editing work." Well, he should have fired him considering the innumerable typos, syntactic mistakes, bad translations or incorrect spelling and obviously missing words in incomplete sentences. From a journalist with 25 years' experience with respectable "Financial Times" this is quite shocking. Here are some examples:

-p. 27: "ensuiRe bathroom" for "ensuiTe..."
-p. 63 "New" when obviously he meant "Now."
-p.111 "sentenced to" where TO is repeated
-p. 122 "PCC's" where the apostrophe and S are redundant because don't make any sense.
-p. 160 "abilities skills" : obviously missing a word like "and'.
-p.173 "animal with seven heads": dreadful, literal translation from a Brazilian expression
-p.181 "the product an entrenched": incomprehensible, missing or redundant words
-p. 195: "the Quest of honor" instead of what should obviously be "the Guest of honor."
-p. 200 "Faria LimE" neighborhood in São Paulo: should be "Faria LimA."
-p. 238 "had bode" for "had boded."

Overall interesting and insightful for readers who don't know much about Brazil. For knowledgeable people, marginally useful.

I also found his ideology at times irritating. A reporter is supposed to be neutral, not to throw his ideological bias at his readers.

[Sami Eerola · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the only English language book on Bolsonaro that i know and have read, but compared to Brazilian books on the topic, this is the best one. It does not just gives an analyses on Bolsonaro's ideology and way of governing, but also a deep dive on the social and economic conditions that led to his presidential victory

The author clearly knows Brazil and its language, because the historical analyses of Brazilian society is very detailed. I almost felt that the author knows Brazil better than Brazilians themselves.

But this book is one of the best, because of its impartiality and sticking to the facts. Only in the beginning the author says that he thinks Bolsonaro is not far-right or fascist, as many say, but a right wing populist. Other than that personal opinion, the book just gives the facts of Bolsonaro's ideology and its disastrous governement and its up to the reader to decide what to think about it.

The author does not say it directly, but just reading about the way Bolsonaro governs, it is very clear that the president is just dumb. He maybe a fascist, but he is so stupid, that he incapable of doing actual fascism. What Bolsonaro is doing is destroying the Brazilian state by doing nothing constructive. Some Brazilians think this is al part of his secret plan, but Lapper's book gives evidence that there is no conspiracy. Bolsonaro is just stupid.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pesquisar o bolsonarismo e seus arredores faz parte da minha trajetoria de investigação para a contrução da minha tese de doutorado. É interessante, portanto, ler um livro escrito por um estrangeiro radicado no Brasil sobre nosso contexto atual. Também é interessante o título em inglês do livro que faz referência às bancadas de congressistas referentes aos seus interesses: boi, bíblia e bala, o, digamos, tripé do governo Bolsonaro. Contudo, este é um livro "para inglês ver". Apesar de apresentar uma análise bastante bem feita do contexto que levou ao Bolsonarismo, não traz aprofundamentos próprios do autor sobre o fenômeno, mas constatações a partir de estudos ou reportagens de outros autores. E é interessante também que seja um livro "para inglês ver" porque podemos pensar de que forma o contexto brasileiro atual está sendo apresentado de um estrangeiro para outros estrangeiros.

[Julian Tribble · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read. Was somewhat different than I had expected, mainly the focus of the book. I expected it to be more focused on Bolsonaro and his campaign, instead the book leaned heavily into researching and looking at certain trends within Brazil that caused/enabled the rise of Bolsonaro. This was, in my view, a more interesting topic. This was described with care and understanding, which really allows the reader to understand the topics which are presented by the book.

My only problem with the book, would be that I found the structure to be somewhat confusing and it was sometimes unclear when it was describing modern Brazil of Brazil that led to Bolsonaro being chosen.

After seeing the news this morning and reading the book, it perplexes me that people can still believe in the fable created by populism and the fact that a large chunk of Brazil were willing to go through 4 more years.

[van1998 · Rating 4 out of 5]

- อีกรูปแบบของชื่อเสียง คือ การพูดในสิ่งที่ไม่ควรและไม่สามารถพูดได้
- เหยียดเพศจริงจัง ชายแท้เอียงขวา ขายคะแนนเสียงได้ทุกสมัย เสน่ห์ของคนที่พูดในสิ่งที่ใจคิด แม้ว่าจะไม่ถูกต้องทางการเมืองก็ตาม ได้ผลดีสำหรับเขา
- การเข้าถึงสินเชื่อ (Credito Consignado) รัฐบาลเริ่มให้ประชาชนสามารถเข้าถึงสินเชื่อโดยมีค่าจ้างเป็นหลักประกัน ทำให้คนทั่วไปสามารถซื้อสินค้าอุปโภคบริโภคและอิเล็กทรอนิกส์ได้ง่ายขึ้น
- Bolsa Familia: ขยายโครงการสวัสดิการสังคมปฏิวัติวงการนี้ โดยมีการจ่ายเงินช่วยเหลือครอบครัวโดยมีเงื่อนไขว่าต้องส่งลูกไปโรงเรียนหรือคลินิกเพื่อรับวัคซีน ผลลัพธ์คือระหว่างปี 2003-2010 จำนวนคนในชนชั้น C (ชนชั้นแรงงานที่มีกำลังซื้อ) เพิ่มขึ้นอย่างมหาศาล ทำให้ผู้คนสามารถซื้อรถยนต์ บินท่องเที่ยวภายในประเทศ และแม้กระทั่งไปเที่ยวต่างประเทศได้
.
- กันยายน 2013 Dilma ตอบสนองด้วยการเสนอร่างกฎหมายกระบวนการยุติธรรมทางอาญาเพื่อปราบปรามการทุจริต การสอบสวนการทุจริตครั้งใหญ่ที่เรียกว่า "Lava Jato" (Operation Car Wash) ผลพวงของกฎหมายทำให้ค้นพบการทุจริตขนาดใหญ่ที่เกี่ยวข้องกับบริษัท Petrobras และการจ่ายสินบนให้กับพรรคการเมืองหลายพรรค รวมถึง PT เป็นครั้งแรกที่คนรวยในบราซิลถูกจำคุกจากการทุจริต การสอบสวนนี้ ผลกระทบนี้ทำลายความน่าเชื่อถือของนักการเมืองกระแสหลักอย่างรุนแรง
- สงครามแย่งชิงเส้นทางยาเสพติด ระหว่างกลุ่มอาชญากรรมใหญ่สองกลุ่ม คือ First Command of the Capital (PCC) และ Red Command ประชาชนได้รับผลกระทบจากความรุนแรงจำนวนมาก "ต้องการทางออกที่รุนแรง" (violent solutions)
.
- รัฐบราซิลมีขนาดใหญ่และใช้จ่ายเงินอย่างสิ้นเปลือง โดยเงินกว่า 90% ของงบประมาณถูกกำหนดโดยรัฐธรรมนูญ ทำให้รัฐบาลมีอิสระในการตัดสินใจเรื่องการใช้จ่ายน้อยมาก นอกจากนี้ยังมีการเอื้อประโยชน์ให้แก่กลุ่มผลประโยชน์เฉพาะ เช่น ตุลาการ, ส.ส., ทหาร (คุ้นๆ กับประเทศแถว asean)
- Bolsonaro สนับสนุนกลุ่มเกษตรกรและผู้ที่ต้องการใช้ประโยชน์จากทรัพยากรในอเมซอน เขาสนับสนุนการให้อำนาจแก่ผู้ทำเหมืองหรือตัดไม้ที่ไม่มีใบอนุญาต และอนุญาตให้มีการ "ป้องกันทรัพย์สินด้วยปืน" เนื่องจากเกษตรกรเหล่านั้นรู้สึกว่าไม่สามารถพึ่งพารัฐได้

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at the factors that helped give Bolsonaro his victory and also the reasons for his loss in 2022. I thought it would spend a bit more on his presidency, but that is only the focus of the last few chapters. I would be interested in finding another book to cover these years in more depth.

[Reed Hasson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of the history and context that brought bolsonaro to power but was lacking in the actual rule of bolsonaro and an analysis of its broader implications

[Matthew Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was worse than the headlines under the tantrum ridden rule of Bolsanaro. This thorough if dry analysis lays out the detail of misrule

[Aidan Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative, and current, overview of Brazilian national politics as well as a number of social trends, such as the rise of evangelism, the growth of the agribusiness lobby, the importance of trade with China, etc.

I liked that this book isn’t just focused on Rio, but ventures into other regions.

The author’s finance and economics background is mostly helpful, although it does lead to some off key notes, such as a fixation on public sector pensions as supposedly the most important economic challenge facing Brazil - an assertion rather in tension with the other issues explored in this very book!

[S.K. Pherwani]

informative read about bolsonaro's brazil and it got to that point. brazil's a weirdly undercovered country by american media so if you're like me and don't have much of a background with current events in the country, you kinda have to take lapper at his word here. will say that much like a lot of current events books which went to press during 2020/2021, the book suffers a bit from clearly having much of it written pre-pandemic. it still has value in explaining the pre-covid world, but clearly much has changed in time between when this to press and when i read this in march 2022.

[Julie Capell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book to listen to in preparation for a trip to Brazil. The book explores the country's politics since the return to democracy in 1985, focusing extensively on Bolsonaro, but not exclusively. There are long sections on the rise of Luis Inácio Lula da Silva to the presidency in 2003 and also of the presidency of his successor, Dilma Rousseff, in 2010. There is just enough detail about the inner workings of Brazil's multi-party system and the payoffs and machinations that go on between the parties to keep the reader interested without getting bogged down.

I really appreciated the in depth explanation of the "Car Wash" scandal ("Lava Jato") that led to Lula's arrest and eventual conviction in 2018 for corruption and money laundering. I knew he had been sentenced to prison, but never really understood the whole case until reading this book.

Throughout, there's a lot of information about Brazil's economy, which is to be expected since the author was a journalist for the Financial Times for decades. Again, I feel he gave just enough detail to be informative without getting boring for this non-economically minded reader.

I also really appreciated the introduction to the book, where the author explains his point-of-view. The description of his journey from impressionable, left-leaning student living in South America during the abuses of the Pinochet dictatorship in the 1970s, to a decidedly right-leaning, pro-free-market journalist today helped me situate his analyses along that familiar left-right scale. To my decidedly leftist sensibilities, I felt he did a good job of objectively analyzing the various governments, both conservative and liberal, that are covered in the book.

[I listened to this as an audio book very well performed by Leighton Pugh. It's not easy to narrate a non-fiction book full of statistics and lots of Portuguese names. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this narration.]

[Marykate · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and well-structured look at the forces that facilitated Bolsonaro’s rise. The author is good at summarizing complex political timelines and coalitions, but his annoying neoliberal views detracted from some of his otherwise useful analysis. (For example, he kept referring to social welfare programs as “turning on the money faucet,” as if cynical electioneering is the only motive you could possibly have for lifting millions out of poverty.)

Besides that - and I know this might sound petty - this book was atrociously copyedited. Scores and scores of typos, repeated words, screwed-up syntax, etc. Honestly, the worst-edited book I’ve ever encountered from an actual publishing house. I am dying to know what incompetent nepotism hire edited this thing. Please message me if you know the drama.

[Alberto Souviron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brazil is a country of many realities, and Richard Lapper highlights this masterfully in this book. Supported by solid facts, data and in-depth interviews, he brilliantly presents the historical context and the drivers that led the rise of Bolsonaro. But more than that, he shows us the profound political and social changes that Brazil experimented in the last two decades. Beef, bible and bullets: Brazil in the age of Bolsonaro is a must-read book for anyone who wants to understand the values and priorities o today’s Brazil.

[Konstantin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely one of the best books I've ever read about Brazil – yes, it's more about Brazil in total than about Bolsonaro (for example, there're more chapters about Lula, Dilma and PT than about Bolsonaro).

It's kinda funny to read this book, especially the last chapter now, in October of 2022, where almost each of authors predictions proved to be wrong, yes, although personally the author is far from being neutral (he says it in the beginning), but he provides kinda foreign-neutral overview about the country and its politics.

[Edward Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted the low down in the run up to the next presidential election and that’s what I got. We need more books like this that provide an incisive analysis of the political, economic, and social dynamics of a state’s current existence. Also really liked references to modern tv/movie output, which have given me documentaries & movies to watch for a greater understanding of Brazilian society.

[Matthew O'Brien · Rating 1 out of 5]

Liberal anti-communist understanding of Brazilian politics. the only chapters of interest were those of the gangs and the evangelical church. for anyone interested in this period of Brazilian politics from what i remember Vincent Bevins Book "If We Burn" has a lot of information on Brazil (and other countries) and goes into better detail about it aswell.

[Ernie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing insights into Brazil, political standings, history and use of resources

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Clearly this is not a case of democracy, as democracy means someone liked by Lepper gets into power.

[Matthew Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

With some knowledge of Brazil through friends and a ex partner this book exposed me to more information on the domestic side of Brazil.

[Theis Schæfer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great contemporary insight into the current state of political affairs in Brazil. Would recommend for sure.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good intro for those wanting to understand Bolsonaro

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh this author cannot stick to a timeline and somehow wrote himself into the entire book?

[Keith West · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative overview of Brazilian politics during Bolsonaro period, though it felt like the author’s insights could have gone deeper.

[Kieran McConnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great high level overview of Brazils recent democratic history (economic, political and social key moments) and that of Bolsanaro. However, for me it wasn’t too clear in discussing how this history lead to Bolsanaro and Bolsanarism.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I ever read on my phone -- much of this while in a hammock on a cargo ship in the Amazon in 2023. It went to press just as Bolsonaro was about to lose re-election by the narrowest of margins, flee to Florida, and then try to foment a coup from afar.

Lapper begins the story with Bolsonaro as an officer during the dictatorship, revealing both his political philosophy and his capacity for evil. He also details the scandals -- both real and fabricated -- that facilitated his ascendency.

This book sheds light on the particular paradox of Bolsonaro's approach to the Amazon and to the dangerous alliances he maintains with those who both depend on the region and seek to destroy it.