Discoveries: Voodoo : Search for the Spirit (Discoveries (Abrams))

Rating:
Summary: A fine researcher
Review: Hurbon is a very fine academic and I always enjoy his well-researched books. For me, though, they do not go far enough because I would like to USE Vodou practice in my daily life. Hurbon is great on the history and traditions of Vodou but a better book for parctical information is Ross Heaven's Vodou Shaman. I'd suggest you read them both, although Hurbon's is the better for academic study.

Rating:
Summary: A Wealth of Information
Review: I did not know what to expect when I purchased this book. I needed a serious reference book to research Voodoo (or as I call it Vodou) in "my country" and I found it. This is a very smart and thoroughly researched and documented book that I highly recommend to anyone who has an intellectual curiosity of the Haitian Vodou culture.

Rating:
Summary: For a good start !!!
Review: I have found this book interesting, delivering a most valuable information about history, loas, voodoo practices and religion. The artistic and esthetic content is also of high interest. It provides actually also a contemporary information regarding the present status of this religion and presents the christian religion coming from the US as its bitter ennemy. We will probably never ascertain the importance of the direct influence of voodoo on the present political status of Haïti, but this boook underlines the negative influence of papa Doc and his "tonto macoutes" who used voodoo to justify at times their political system.

Rating:
Summary: Closer to understanding
Review: I spent some time in Haiti but learned precious little about Voodoo. Although practiced by the majority of Haitians, it is not an open, in-your-face religion. The book has a good, detailed, historical background of both Haiti and Voodoo. The discussions about Voodoo are detailed, professional, informative, scholarly, and very non-biased. The history is quite in depth so don't buy this book if you are looking for a light hearted explanation of teh subject. This book helped me to understand Voodoo's cultural significance in Haiti and to understand why it is believed to be a "religion". The book's photos are excellent. I bought the French version of this book so I can't comment on the English translation.

Rating:
Summary: Closer to understanding
Review: I spent some time in Haiti but learned precious little about Voodoo. Although practiced by the majority of Haitians, it is not an open, in-your-face religion. The book has a good, detailed, historical background of both Haiti and Voodoo. The discussions about Voodoo are detailed, professional, informative, scholarly, and very non-biased. The history is quite in depth so don't buy this book if you are looking for a light hearted explanation of teh subject. This book helped me to understand Voodoo's cultural significance in Haiti and to understand why it is believed to be a "religion". The book's photos are excellent. I bought the French version of this book so I can't comment on the English translation.