Review by Choice Review
Journalist Davis's account of the varieties of American Voudou is a brilliant tour de force, a "must read" for students of African American religion. Written in an engaging first-person style, Davis succeeds in combining the craft of a journalistic travel diary with new and deep insights about the scholarship of Voudou (an older spelling of Voodoo). This book is one of few that document the resurgence of African-based religions in the US. Beginning with the Santeria Voudou practices of the Rev. Lorita Mitchell's St. Lazarus Spiritual Church in New Orleans, he follows the trail of Hoodoo, the folklore herbal and healing practices of African Americans stripped of the elaborate African Voudou cosmology and rituals, in rural Louisiana and Mississippi. The most fascinating chapters concern his stay at Oyotunji village in South Carolina, a place that has successfully recreated and maintained African customs and Yoruba ritual practices without the Catholic syncretization common with Santeria. Davis provides a good overview of the struggle and debate between African American advocates of African Voudou and the syncretized Christian form supported by Cubans. Photographs; appendixes ("Voudou in the Media" and "The Revolution Denied"); extensive bibliography. Highly recommended for all levels of readers, from the general public to specialists in the field. L. H. Mamiya Vassar College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Davis, senior editor of Cooking Light magazine, documents a five-year journey into the world of voudou in the American South, specifically New Orleans, Miami, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Voudou is a largely misunderstood religion adapted from West African worship during the diaspora of slavery; this book is a chronicle of personal experience, observation, and reflection. Davis provides a view of a world hidden and protected from outsiders. The result is not a comprehensive study but a narrower appreciation of the way voudou is practiced in parts of the Southern United States, including an important discussion of sacrifice. Engagingly written, the book includes a very helpful glossary and bibliography as well as two appendixes on voudou in the media and the history of the religion. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.Gail Wood, SUNY Coll. of Technology Lib., Cortland (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
