This deluxe hard-back book features hundreds of stunning full size record cover designs of Bossa Nova and Brazilian music from the 1960s. The book also comes complete with full accompanying text, essays and interviews on the historical, political and social context of this Brazilian music as well as features on all the important artists and musicians of the era such as Sergio Mendes, Tom Jobim, Jorge Ben, Elis Regina, Caetano Veloso and many more. Bossa Nova, born in Rio de Janeiro, became a worldwide musical phenomenon, quickly spreading to the USA and the rest of the world. Subsequent musical styles such as the rise of MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira) and Tropicalia are also featured in the book. Bossa Nova emerged at the end of the 1950s, the music (and glorious designs) reflecting a new period of great optimism in the country. Brazil had just elected a new president, a new five-year plan for prosperity had been laid down and the architect Oscar Niemeyer had drawn up his plans for the city of Brasilia. By 1964, as Bossa Nova was taking the world by storm, tanks rode through Rio as Brazil came under a violent military dictatorship that would oppress the lives of Brazilians for the next twenty years.