"Narrative revolves mostly around the Contestado Insurrrection (1912-16), a messianic-political battle led by a monarchist monk against the New Republic's army in Santa Catarina. Narrator's voice expresses problems he faces as author while writing about his main characters, Gerd Runnel and his small family (wife and a retarded daughter). Describes folk traditions of German descendants in southern Brazil and adds passages in documentary style related to members of that community who nurtured and acted on their empathy for Nazism during WWII"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.