Os Sertoes

the long version

Os Sertões (translated as Rebellion in the Backlands) (1902) is a book written by the Brazilian author Euclides da Cunha. Mixing science and literature, the author narrates the story of a war that happened in the end of the 19th century, in Canudos, a settlement of Bahia's Sertão ("backland"), an extremely arid region where, even now, struggles against poverty, drought and political corruption continue. During the war (1893-1897) against the republican army, the sertanejos (inhabitants of the backlands) were commanded by a messianic leader called Antonio Conselheiro.