Lost in the Stars of the Southern Cross

Just weeks before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 21-year-old Jordan Young arrived in Brazil with $35 in his pocket and dreams of adventure. Unable to return to the U.S. because of war travel restrictions, Jordan studied at the University of Sao Paulo, worked as a rural sociologist in the Amazon, and helped organize the Rubber Army to support the WWII war effort. In the process he met the Brazilian beauty whom he married many years later. His memoir tells the story of the Brazil of the 1940s that no longer exists and the making of a Brazilianist. Jordan M. Young is professor emeritus of history at Pace University in New York, NY. He is the author of several books about Brazil and an early proponent of the study of Brazilian culture in the United States.