The Serpent and the Rainbow
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The Serpent and the Rainbow by Wade Davis
A scientific investigation and personal adventure story about zombis and the voudoun culture of Haiti by a Harvard scientist. 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.A scientific investigation and personal adventure story about zombis and the voudoun culture of Haiti by a Harvard scientist.
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.
National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence WADE DAVIS is an anthropologist and storyteller whose work has taken him into indigenous communities worldwide. He is the author of 17 books including The Serpent and the Rainbow (1986) and Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest (2011), which won the 2012 Samuel Johnson Prize for best English-language nonfiction. For National Geographic TV he created Light at the Edge of the World, an eight-part documentary. One of 20 Honorary Members of the Explorers Club, in 2011 Davis received their Explorers Medal, the club's highest award.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780002176019 |
| ISBN 10 | 0002176017 |
| Title | The Serpent and the Rainbow |
| Author | Wade Davis |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding type | Hardback |
| Publisher | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Year published | 1986-05-27 |
| Number of pages | 300 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |