"From Fanatics to Folk is a remarkable study of a Brazilian millenarian movement that--because of the extended time-frame and combination of fieldwork and archival research--blends the best features of historical and anthropological interpretation. Patricia R. Pessar is attentive to the way in which the state, the political sphere, and the institutional church influenced the course of the movement. At the same time, she never loses sight of the role of religious beliefs and personal interactions."--Barbara Weinstein, author of For Social Peace in Brazil: Industrialists and the Remaking of the Working Class in Sao Paulo, 1920-1964 "No one has written to any significant extent on Pedro Batista before this book, and Patricia R. Pessar's detailed explanation of what has become of Batista's movement following his death is fascinating. Her interdisciplinary use of history, anthropology, and political science is exemplary."--Paul J. Vanderwood, author of The Power of God against the Guns of Government: Religious Upheaval in Mexico at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century
