Best of
Portugal

2005

Death with Interruptions


José Saramago - 2005
    This, of course, causes consternation among politicians, religious leaders, morticians, and doctors. Among the general public, on the other hand, there is initially mass celebration. Flags are hung out on balconies; people dance in the streets. They have achieved the great goal of humanity: eternal life. Then reality hits home—families are left to care for the permanently dying; life-insurance policies become meaningless; and funeral parlors are reduced to arranging burials for pet dogs, cats, hamsters, and parrots. Death sits in her chilly apartment, where she lives alone with scythe and filing cabinets and contemplates her experiment: What if no one ever died again? What if she, death with a small "d," became human and were to fall in love?

História do Eléctrico da Carris / The History of the Lisbon Trams


Marina Tavares Dias - 2005
    The first tramway in Lisbon entered service on 17 November 1873, as a horsecar line. On 30 August 1901, Lisbon's first electric tramway commenced operations. Within a year, all of the city's tramways had been converted to electric traction. Included is reference to all the tram lines still running in the 21st century. Text in English runs beside the text in Portuguese. Limited Official Centenary edition by Carris.

São Tome: Journey to the Abyss--Portugal's Stolen Children


Paul D. Cohn - 2005
    The collision of slavery, sugar agriculture, and discovery of The Americas transformed this island colony into the nidus of the wholesale black slave trade that infected Africa and Western commerce for the next 350 years. This is a unique and little-known chapter of the Diaspora which also reveals the Medieval Church s complicity in the business of slavery.São Tomé tells the story of young Marcel Saulo and his sister Leah, who were abducted with other children from their synagogue in Lisbon and shipped 4,000 miles to the West-African island.Stellar Pre-Publication Reviews for Paul Cohn's São Tomé"São Tomé a powerful story I admired the strength and confidence in the writing. The setting and characters are richly drawn, and I especially enjoyed the vivid details that make the unfolding events resonate sharply with the reader riveting."--Michael Peitsch, Sr. Vice President/Publisher, Little, Brown & Co."A potent mix of characters and action, Paul Cohn's São Tomé is historical fiction at its finest."--Sid Gustafson, Prisoners of Flight"São Tomé great research, emotionally powerful, the drama is terrific. I got hooked!"--Carl Lennertz, Vice President, HarperCollins Publishers"São Tomé is rich and potent, depicted with impressive authority throughout."--Leigh Feldman, Darhansoff, Verrill, Feldman Literary AgencyAbout the authorPaul Cohn became intrigued with the story of São Tomé Island after viewing Luc Cuyveres' PBS series Into the Rising Sun which chronicled the 15th and 16th Century Portuguese voyages of exploration. His research revealed the compelling history of this equatorial, West-African island colony: The beginnings and then the centerpiece for wholesale African slave trafficking, the kidnapping of Jewish children from the Portuguese mainland to work the Tomé sugar plantations, and the corrosive influence of sugar commerce on both Europe and the Americas. This was a tale to be shared with the reading public.