# Suggest a good book on voodoo? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-book-on-voodoo/587267 "2011-06-29T15:09:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-book-on-voodoo/587267/1 "2011-06-29T15:09:59Z")
I just got back from New Orleans and now that I don’t see two of everything I’d like to do a bit of reading. We did go to a legit voodoo temple (and got trapped and couldn’t escape the priestess who was exceedingly wise and also exceedingly crazy) but most of what we saw was silly and sensational and touristy. What should I read that’s a good popular read but that isn’t fake or gratuitous or all the rest of it? I know _The Serpent and the Rainbow_ is not well-regarded these days. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-book-on-voodoo/587267/2 "2011-06-29T15:13:28Z")
[Mama Lola](http://www.amazon.com/Mama-Lola-Priestess-Brooklyn-Comparative/dp/0520224752). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-book-on-voodoo/587267/3 "2011-06-29T15:16:18Z")
Did you go to the cemetery (St Louis cemetery) where [Marie Laveau’s remains reside?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Laveau) We were there earlier this year and that was pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-book-on-voodoo/587267/4 "2011-06-29T15:23:33Z")
I currently live in New Orleans (I’m pretty sure I know the voodoo temple you went to – I myself am looking for some secret back room in a laundry mat to find the good stuff (or at least Kate Hudson!), like in the movie _Skeleton Key_)…I don’t know exactly what you want to know, but I would recommend Maya Deren’s excellent work _Diving Horsemen_ for at least one source of information. > **[Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti: Maya Deren, Joseph Campbell:...](https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Horsemen-Living-Gods-Haiti/dp/0914232630)** > > Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti \[Maya Deren, Joseph Campbell\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti > **[Amazon.com: The Skeleton Key (Widescreen Edition) : Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands,...](https://www.amazon.com/Skeleton-Key-Widescreen-Kate-Hudson/dp/B00005JNY3)** > > Amazon.com: The Skeleton Key (Widescreen Edition) : Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, John Hurt, Peter Sarsgaard, Joy Bryant, Iain Softley, Daniel Bobker, Iain Softley, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher, Ehren Kruger: Movies & TV ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-book-on-voodoo/587267/5 "2011-06-29T15:45:58Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Did you go to the cemetery (St Louis cemetery) where [Marie Laveau’s remains reside?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Laveau) We were there earlier this year and that was pretty cool. We did, we went with a tour with the Historic New Orleans company which came well recommended and was very, very good. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-book-on-voodoo/587267/6 "2011-06-29T15:57:58Z")
[Voodoo and Afro-Caribbean Paganism](http://www.amazon.com/Voodoo-Afro-Caribbean-Paganism-Lilith-Dorsey/dp/0806527145) by Lilith Dorsey is sound scholarship by a working practitioner (not always easy to find in one source.) Lilith is also hated by about half of New Orleans’ Voudoun population, so she must be doing something right. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-book-on-voodoo/587267/7 "2011-06-29T16:18:13Z")
Any good fiction, by the way, with some basis in fact? ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-book-on-voodoo/587267/8 "2011-06-29T18:08:05Z")
I really like Barbara Hambly’s historical mysteries which are set in 1830’s New Orleans: the [Benjamin January](http://www.amazon.com/Free-Color-Benjamin-January-Book/dp/0553575260/) series. The protagonist is a well-educated free black man (born into slavery but freed as a child) who has just returned to New Orleans after living in Paris for many years. January’s sister is a voodooiene, and there are many little bits of voodoo in the books - people are frequently being cursed or blessed, poisoned or healed. January is devoutly Catholic and tries hard not to believe any of it. ---
**Author:** ![lightpool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6de8d8/32.png) [@lightpool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lightpool)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-book-on-voodoo/587267/9 "2011-06-29T18:21:42Z")
Dany Laferrière’s novel P_ays sans Chapeau_ is a great contemporary Haitian novel that revolves around voodoo. I haven’t read the English translantion (_Down Among the Dead Men_), so I don’t know if it’s any good, but I loved the original. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-book-on-voodoo/587267/10 "2011-06-29T19:00:50Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > I really like Barbara Hambly’s historical mysteries which are set in 1830’s New Orleans: the [Benjamin January](http://www.amazon.com/Free-Color-Benjamin-January-Book/dp/0553575260/) series. The protagonist is a well-educated free black man (born into slavery but freed as a child) who has just returned to New Orleans after living in Paris for many years. > > January’s sister is a voodooiene, and there are many little bits of voodoo in the books - people are frequently being cursed or blessed, poisoned or healed. January is devoutly Catholic and tries hard not to believe any of it. I read the first one of those ages ago - Hambly is one of my favorite authors! I should revisit.