For
all of Brazil's efforts to reduce poverty-and its progress-the
favelas in Rio de Janeiro still house one-third of the city's poor,
and violence permeates every aspect of the city. As urban drug gangs
and police wage war in the streets, favela residents who are
especially vulnerable live in fear of being caught in the crossfire.
Politicians, human rights activists, and security authorities have
been working to minimize the social and economic problems at the root
of this "war." Living in the Crossfire presents
impassioned testimony from officials, residents, and others in
response to the ongoing crisis. Maria Helena Moreira Alves and Philip
Evanson provide vivid accounts from grieving mothers and members of
the police working to stop the war and, among officials, from
Brazil's President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, who discusses his
efforts to improve public security.
