Books by Roberto DaMatta

Focuses on the ""animal game,"" a kind of popular gambling entertainment or lottery originated in 1882 within Brazil, in which locals bet on a list of twenty-five animals. Written in English, this work moves smoothly between comprehensive analysis and field observations of specific behaviors and practices.

In this work, Roberto DaMatta focuses on the trajectories of three types of public ritual (carnival, Independence Day and other military parades, and local-level religious processions) as principal axes in defining the values and attitudes that shape urban Brazil.