The serpent and the rainbow

Summary:

"In April 1982, ethnobotanist Wade Davis arrived in Haiti to investigate two documented cases of zombis, people who had reappeared in Haitian society years after they had been officially declared dead and had been buried. Drawn into a netherworld of rituals and celebrations, Davis penetrated the vodoun mystique deeply enough to place zombification in its proper context within vodoun culture. In the course of his investigation, Davis came to realize that the story of vodoun is the history of Haiti, from the African origins of its people to the successful Haitian independence movement, down to the present day, where vodoun culture is, in effect, the government of Haiti's countryside." "The Serpent and the Rainbow combines anthropological investigation with a remarkable personal adventure to illuminate and finally explain a phenomenon that has long fascinated Americans."--Back cover.

Record details

ISBN: 0684839296
ISBN: 9780684839295
ISBN: 0671502476
ISBN: 9780671502478
Physical Description: 297 pages ; 22 cm
Publisher: New York, NY : Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, [1986]

Content descriptions

General Note:	Subtitle on cover: A Harvard scientist's astonishing journey into the secret societies of Haitian voodoo, zombis, and magic. Originally published: 1985.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 274-284) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Pt. 1. The poison -- 1. The jaguar -- 2. "The frontier of death" -- 3. The Calabar hypothesis -- 4. White darkness and the living dead -- 5. A lesson in history -- 6. Everything is poison, nothing is poison -- -- Pt. 2. Interlude at Harvard -- 7. Columns on a blackboard -- 8. Voodoo death -- -- Pt. 3. The secret societies -- 9. In summer the pilgrims walk -- 10. The serpent and the rainbow -- 11. Tell my horse -- 12. Dancing in the lion's jaw -- 13. Sweet as honey, bitter as bile -- Epilogue