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The SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW

The SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW Paperback - 1997

by Wade Davis

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  • Paperback

Reissued to coincide with the release of "One River"--a chronicle of Davis' exploration of the Amazon rain forest--"The Serpent and the Rainbow" presents the author's account of his venture into the heart of Haiti, on a search for a powerful sedative--a "zombie drug". "Exotic and far-reaching".--"The Wall Street Journal".

Description

Touchstone Books, 1997. Paperback. New. reissue edition. 304 pages. 8.75x5.50x0.75 inches.
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Details

  • Title The SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW
  • Author Wade Davis
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reissue
  • Condition New
  • Pages 304
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Touchstone Books, Old Tappan, New Jersey, U.S.A.
  • Date 1997
  • Features Bibliography, Index
  • Bookseller's Inventory # __0684839296
  • ISBN 9780684839295 / 0684839296
  • Weight 0.64 lbs (0.29 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.6 x 5.52 x 0.76 in (21.84 x 14.02 x 1.93 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Haiti - Description and travel, Haiti - Social life and customs
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 85022114
  • Dewey Decimal Code B

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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.

First line

MY FIRST MEETING with the man who would send me on my quest for the Haitian poison occurred on a damp miserable winter's day in late February 1974.

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Media reviews

"An account solving one of the most puzzling biological mysteries of all time." -- Omni

About the author

Wade Davis is a writer, photographer, filmmaker, and former Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. He is Professor of Anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of Columbia. Davis has written 22 books and is the winner of the 2012 Samuel Johnson prize. He holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University.