The white worlds Kim Utzon has created in Denmark and southern Sweden over the last few decades are stage sets for the ordered appearance of rational and reasonable human beings at work, at home, or at play. Clear in their composition, sequence, and scale, sensuous in their responseto light, and conducive to rest and reason more than anything else, theare a refinement of the Scandinavian Modern tradition in which he works. Combining sparse and light-filled rooms surrounded or defined by open grids with expressive roofs or objects, Utzon's work is able to make sense out of complex programs and create relaxed and continuous spaces.

Zones of social abandonment are emerging everywhere in Brazil's big cities--places like Vita, where the unwanted, the mentally ill, the sick, and the homeless are left to die. This haunting, unforgettable story centers on a young woman named Catarina, increasingly paralyzed and said to be mad, living out her time at Vita. Anthropologist Joao Biehl leads a detective-like journey to know Catarina; to unravel the cryptic, poetic words that are part of the "dictionary" she is compiling; and to trace the complex network of family, medicine, state, and economy in which her abandonment and pathology took form. An instant classic, Vita has been widely acclaimed for its bold fieldwork, theoretical innovation, and literary force. Reflecting on how Catarina's life story continues, this updated edition offers the reader a powerful new afterword and gripping new photographs following Biehl and Eskerod's return to Vita. Anthropology at its finest, Vita is essential reading for anyone who is grappling with how to understand the conditions of life, thought, and ethics in the contemporary world.