This book studies architecture and literature of Rio de Janeiro, the “Marvellous City,” from the revolution of 1889 to the Olympics of 2016, taking the reader on a journey through the history of the city. This study offers a wide-ranging and thought-provoking insight that moves from ruins to Modernism, from the past to the future, from futebol to fiction, and from beach to favela, to uncover the surprising feature—decadence—at the heart of this unique and seemingly timeless urban world. An innovative and in-depth study of buildings, books, and characters in the city’s modern history, this fundamental new work sets the reader in the glorious world of Rio de Janeiro.