"Peripecias de um Pesquisador 'Gringo' no Brasil nos Anos 1960, ou, A Cata do Cordel" e um relato divertido e informativo da primeira estada de pesquisa do Curran no Brasil. Neste livro o autor conta duas estorias: a pesquisa sobre o cordel e talvez mais importante, as viagens e a peripecias daquele primeiro ano no Brasil.Os dois relatos sao inseparaveis e se complementam. Os capitulos incluem: Recife e o Nordeste, Viagens ao Interior do Nordeste, Pesquisa na Capital Colonial do Brasil - Salvador da Bahia, Pesquisa e Turismo no Rio de Janeiro, Viagens ao Interior desde o Rio de Janeiro includindo Ouro Preto, Congonhas do Campo e uma viagem memoravel em um "gaiola," ou seja, vapor de roda, no Rio Sao Francisco em Minas Gerais e Bahia, e finalmente, pesquisa na Bacia Amazonica, incluindo Belem do Para e Manaus. O relato nao esta em linguagem academica mas em um estilo coloquial de conversa. Curran escreve como se estivesse fazendo um bate-papo com o leitor relatando estorias de suas viagens, e talvez, com o autor e leitor gozando uma caipirinha ou um bom choppe enquanto o autor conta suas estorias.

"Aconteceu no Brasil - Crônicas de um Pesquisador Norte - Americano no Brasil II" é a continuação de um livro editado uns anos atrás: "Peripécias de um Pesquisador 'Gringo' no Brasil no Anos 1960". Continua o namoro e a odisseia do autor no Brasil de 1969 a 1985 (um terceiro volume trará tudo ao presente, isso daqui a uns anos). O volume presente tratará varias estadas no Brasil, o autor já "Assistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese" na Arizona State University. Os temas serão a pesquisa da literatura de cordel, congressos e momentos importantes com autores brasileiros, esforços para publicar obras no Brasil, viagens a partes novas do país e belos momentos de turismo com a esposa Keah. Entre os momentos acadêmicos altos serão 1973 e o Primeiro Congresso de Filologia Portuguesa no Rio quando o autor é apresentado ao mundo acadêmico Luso-Brasileiro e especialmente em 1981 quando faz parte da "Comemoração de 50 Anos de Literatura de Jorge Amado" em Salvador da Bahia. Entre outros momentos de pesquisa através os anos o momento mais memorável e feliz foi em 1985 quando o autor e sua esposa Keah foram ao Brasil. A ocasião foi um prêmio para o autor combinado com uma bela viagem turística a partes diversas do pais. No espírito e estilo de "crônicas breves" o livro não deixará de comentar o cenário político, econômico e social do país através os anos notando muitas mudanças vistas pelo autor.

"The Writing and Publishing Journey" is a summary and catalogue of all of Professor Curran's writings. It includes the academic books before retirement, the academic and cultural books during retirement, the experiments with fiction based on the former, and a brief addendum of academic articles in research journals. Each volume is introduced by the cover image in full color. The abiding objective is to recall in a conversational way the when, why and how of each book, that is, when it was written, the circumstances of how and why it was written, and perhaps most interesting the odyssey of getting it into print. Any professor in Academia will relate to this endeavor, and amateur writers and interested readers should enjoy the journey as well.

Letters from Brazil: A Cultural-Historical Narrative Made Fiction recounts the adventures of young researcher Mike Gaherty in Brazil in the turbulent 1960s. It tells the story of his research on Brazilian folklore and folk-popular literature (with inevitable amorous moments along the way) while dodging encounters and threats from agents of the DOPS, Brazils chief espionage and anti-communist, anti-subversion agency. The nations military revolution of 1964 and subsequent evolution to dictatorship are the background for Gahertys ups and downs in Brazils Northeast, the Northeast Interior, Salvador da Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Braslia, the Amazon, and a final harrowing time in Recife. The thread of the narrative is the series of letters requested of Gaherty by James Hansen of the New York Times (international section) and his later involvement with Stanley Iverson of the INR (Bureau of Intelligence and Research of the United States Department of State)-WHA (Western Hemisphere Affairs) reporting on Gahertys own research activities in Brazil and his discoveries of political and social sentiment in northeastern Brazil. The young American researcher reports as well on meetings with major Brazilian cultural figures, encounters with Brazilian Afro-Brazilian phenomena like Xango, Candomble, and Capoeira, impressive times during New Years Eve and the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, and cultural-travel highlights throughout Brazil. The fly in the ointment was the DOPS.

Diary of a North American Researcher in Brazil III is the last in the series Stories I Told My Students. It is the continuation of the authors love affair and odyssey in Brazil, this time from 1988 to 2005. The volume brings to the present moments lived in Brazil and is written much more in the framework of a travel diary in Brazil. Short vignettes about people and places flavor the book. There is emphasis on academic conferences with many Brazilian Stories, the publication of works in Brazil, and more important, times shared with cordel poets, professors and researchers of Brazilian literature, folklore and popular literature in verse. Something new in this final phase of research, writing and professional life was the time spent in the city of So Paulo, at first glance an unlikely place for a student of folklore. A special moment was the participation in a unique event: 100 Years of Cordel sponsored by the SESC-POMPEIA in 2001 in that city. Others were with cordel poets and poet-singers in the Northeastern Cultural Center in So Paulo, and with Srgio Miceli of the University of So Paulo Press and Plnio Martins of Ateli Press, dealing with the publication of Currans final research efforts in Brazil. And lastly the book recalls fondly the time spent with friends who were with me in moments of happiness but also of solitude and some loneliness. I dedicate the book to all of them: cordel poets, researchers, professors, writers, friends, and to the person who sustained me most, my wife Keah.

This book is a photographic journey of fifty years of research on Brazil and its folk-popular poetry, the literatura de cordel. The photos taken by the author over these fifty years are divided into three parts: 1. The poets and the printers of cordel 2.The intellectuals, informants and friends associated with the research and 3. The fairs, markets and scenes of folklore related to the research. Each photo, when applicable, is followed by a description of the scene or person. This archive includes many persons and scenes that are no longer present in Brazil thus documenting the reality of those times. The book is a companion book to the complete story of the story-poems and their authors seen in his recent Portrait of Brazil in the Twentieth Century - the Universe of the Literatura de Cordel.

It Happened in Brazil: Chronicle of a North American Researcher in Brazil II is the English version of Aconteceu no Brasil: Crnica de um Pesquisador Norte - Americano II. The book is a continuation of the first volume in the series published in 2012 in both Portuguese and English: Adventures of a Gringo Researcher in Brazil in the 1960s. It continues Currans love affair with Brazil and the Brazilians and work in Brazil from 1969 to 1985; a third volume to be published in coming years will bring everything to the present. This volume deals with various researches and travel trips to Brazil, the author now professor at Arizona State University. Themes will be continued research on the Literatura de Cordel, conferences, important moments with authors of cordel and Brazilian Literature, the odyssey of publishing in Brazil, journeys to new parts of Brazil, and fine moments of tourism with wife, Keah. Among academic moments and high points will be 1973 and the First International Congress on Portuguese and Brazilian Philology in Rio de Janeiro where the author is introduced to the Luso-Brazilian Academic World and especially in 1981 when Curran took part in the 50 Years of Literature of Jorge Amado Commemoration in Salvador da Bahia. Among other memorable moments over the years was the trip with wife Keah to Brazil in 1985. The occasion was to receive a literary prize combined with new tourism to various parts of the country. Written in the spirit and style of the genre of short chronicles in Brazil, the book will comment as well on the political, economic and social scene over the years and will note the many changes in the dynamic Brazil of the late twentieth century.

"Letters from Brazil IV" is the most recent in the series of Professor Mike Gaherty's travel and research in Brazil. He has returned in 1984 after an "invited" hiatus since 1971 by the General heading Brazil's Pre-Censorship Board, this due to Mike's friendship, research, collaboration with, and defense of singer-composer Chico Buarque de Hollanda. He is reporting on current events and politics for the International Section of the "New York Times," in liason with the Institute of International Research, Latin American Sector. This includes the volatile climate of "Direct Elections Now" for the presidency. He is shadowed by the DOPS (the Brazilian Security Agency) but has become great friends with the Captain in charge of keeping an eye on him. Mike renews many old friendships and finds time to update his research specialty "The Literatura de Cordel" as folk - popular journalism since censorship ended in 1979. He also has to maneuver between some and side step other former romantic liasons in Brazil. Further collaboration in a Chico Buarque concert and dealing with Brazilian security forces gets dicey. Brazilian literature, religion, music, food and his own nostalgia for "Black Orpheus" complete the adventure.

TWO BY MARK J. CURRAN ASU Days as well as The Guitars – A Music Odyssey are a return to the autobiographical. Book I ASU Days tells the story beginning with graduate study for the Ph.D in Spanish and Latin American Studies and the account of Mark’s years at Arizona State University. It is comprised of memories of teaching and research days at ASU but also a description of campus life dating to 1968. Book II The Guitars - A Music Odyssey recounts the role of music in Mark’s life from age 14 in 1955 to the present. The main characters are the guitars: a simple steel stringed Stella in 1955, an electric Kay and amplifyer in high school, 1955 - 1959 and college days, a Brazilian Rosewood Classic from Rio de Janeiro in 1966 and a Manuel Rodríguez Classic from Madrid, electrified for performance, 2002. The study, learning, practice and the performing range from early pop and Rock n’ Roll from Elvis Presley days, to serious home study of classic guitar, to the folk tunes of the 1960s, Classic Country and Western, Irish, “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” and Classic Guitar and Contemporary Catholic Songs for meditation at church. The final chapter is a work in process: practice and performance at home.

This book is entitled Travel, Research, and Teaching in Guatemala and Mexico: In Search of the Pre-Columbian Heritage (volume II, Mexico). This book in its totality of two volumes has various facets: it is comprised of anecdotes and thoughts on travel, research, and teaching in Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico from 1962 to 2000; it is a reflection on important topics and concepts of pre-Columbian culture, and finally, it is a summary of classroom guidelines and Professor Curran's notes on a major work on the civilizations of pre-Columbian Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico and important documentary films on the same. Volume II treats Mexico. An introduction and overview of the sites in Mexico is seen in text and photos from the Museo de Antropología e Historia in Mexico City, the best of its kind. Again, volume II treats modern urban cities and rural towns near the pre-Columbian sites: Mexico City, Oaxaca, San Cristóbal de las Casas, and Mérida in the Yucatán. The well-known pre-Columbian sites in volume II are Teotihuacán, Monte Albán, Mitla, Palenque, Uxmal, Chichén-Itzá, and Tulum. The book is richly illustrated with black-and-white travel photos by Curran.