American Voudou: Journey into a Hidden World

Voudou (an older spelling of voodoo) --a pantheistic belief system developed in West Africa and transported to the Americas during the diaspora of the slave trade--is the generic term for a number of similar African religions which mutated in the Americas, including santeria, candomble, macumbe, obeah, Shango Baptist, etc. Since its violent introduction in the Caribbean islands, it has been the least understood and most feared religion of the New World--suppressed, outlawed or ridiculed from Haiti to Hattiesburg. Yet with the exception of Zora Neale Hurston's accounts more than a half-century ago and a smattering of lurid, often racist paperbacks, studies of this potent West African theology have focused almost exclusively on Haiti, Cuba and the Caribbean basin. American Voudou turns our gaze back to American shores, principally towards the South, the most important and enduring stronghold of the voudou faith in America and site of its historic yet rarely recounted war with Christianity. This chronicle of Davis' determined search for the true legacy of voudou in America reveals a spirit-world from New Orleans to Miami which will shatter long-held stereotypes about the religion and its role in our culture. The real-life dramas of the practitioners, true believers and skeptics of the voudou world also offer a radically different entree into a half-hidden, half-mythical South, and by extension into an alternate soul of America. Readers interested in the dynamic relationships between religion and society, and in the choices made by people caught in the flux of conflict, will be heartened by this unique story of survival and even renaissance of what may have been the most persecuted religion in American history. Read more Continue reading Read less FROM LIBRARY JOURNAL
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
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate kindleedition edition. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rod Davis is an award-winning journalist and magazine editor who has taught writing at the University of Texas at Austin and Southern Methodist University in Dallas. A fifth-generation Texan, he has lived most of his life in Texas and the South, currently residing in Birmingham, Alabama. --This text refers to an alternate kindleedition edition. FROM THE PUBLISHER
American Voudou was recenly chosen as one of the exceptional books of 1998 by the publications The A List, Library Booknotes and Bookman. The books chosen for this award are the top 200 in a field of 25,000, according to Bookman Review Syndicate. We are very proud to have a book of this calibre in our spring list and we congratulate Rod Davis on his achievement. Mr. Davis is an award-winning journalist and magazine editor who has taught writing at the University of Texas at Austin and Southern Methodist University in Dallas. A fifth-generation Texan, he has lived most of his life in Texas and the South, currently residing in Birmingham, Alabama, where he is senior editor of Cooking Light, a Time, Inc. magazine.

--This text refers to an alternate kindleedition edition. REVIEW
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }The Times-Picayune, April 30,2000
"In his impressive new book...Davis searches for theremnants of this West African religion in America. The result is avaluable work, with the author describing his own delicate balance offaith and skepticism about voudou...It is a compelling vision in acompelling book."National Geographic Traveler, April1999

"Explore the backroads of a mysterioius Africanreligion as it conforms to and conflicts with Western sensibilitiesin American Voudou."Africana.com, online, May 1999

"WithAmerican Voudou, Davis has created a valuable resource for blackAmericans interested in learning about Voudou and its suppression inAmerica, shedding light on an important aspect of blackhistory."Choice, July/August 1999

"JournalistDavis's account of the varieties of American Voudou is a brillianttour de force, a "must read" for students of African Americanreligion...Highly recommended for all levels of readers, from thegeneral public to specialists in the field."Library Journal,November 15, 1998

"Davis provides a view of a worldhidden and protected from outsiders...Engagingly written, the bookincludes a very helpful glossary and bibliography as well as twoappendices on voudou in the media and the history of the religion.Highly recommended for public and academic libraries."The TexasObserver, September 15, 2000 --This text refers to an alternate kindleedition edition. Read more Continue reading Read less