When the famous anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss arrived in Rio de Janeiro, he had one book in his pocket: Jean de Léry's History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil. Léry had undertaken his fascinating and arduous voyage in 1556, as a youthful member of the first Protestant mission to the New World. Janet Whatley presents the first complete English translation of one of the most vivid early European accounts of life in the New World.

Janet Whatley is Professor of French at the University of Vermont.

"[This] clear and well-referenced translation will benefit anyone who cares about the early history of the European venture in Brazil, the history of religion, or the Tupinambá, the violent, wily, honorable, and endearing people among whom Léry spent over a year and whom he missed for the rest of his life."—David Fleming, South American Explorer

"Whatley has done English readers not versed in French a major service by providing an annotated translation of Léry's fascinating text."—Virginia Quarterly Review