Herren des Strandes

Blurb

Captains of the Sands is a Brazilian Modernist novel written by Jorge Amado in 1937.
The novel tells of a gang of one hundred orphans and abandoned children. They are seven to fifteen years old and live by begging, gambling and stealing, abandoned in the streets of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The lead character is Pedro Bala, the leader of the gang, and other important characters include the "Professor", Boa-Vida, "Barandão", João Grande and Sem-Pernas. Critics have tended to dismiss Amado’s earlier works, such as Captains of the Sands, as being political polemic rather than novels and for incorporating popular culture, such as Candomblé. In response, Amado said that he set out to tell a story to be enjoyed by all, not to please critics, and to show solidarity with the humanity that lives in the books.
Probably for this reason Captains of the Sands is one of the most popular books among students in Brazil and the story is still known for its socialist idealism. Amado was a member of the Brazilian Communist Party at the time he wrote it.