Salgado shows the efforts of the peasants to reclaim the arable land they see as their natural heritage and recounts how this fight has often resulted in bloodshed. His empathy and understanding of the victims' plight and of human nature unbowed in the face of terrible adversity shines forth in these photographs, which are introduced by the Portuguese writer José Saramago and accompanied by poems by the Brazilian composer and popular singer Chico Buarque de Hollanda. Comprising 109 compelling photographs (the majority of which have never been seen before), this book is a moving photographic record of the 'landless' of Brazil.