1971 1st year edition; "First-hand experiences and accounts of Brazilian Voodoo and Spiritism"; Doubleday & Company publishers, New York; Book Club Edition; hardbound in red textured boards with black lettering along spine; quite good condition with unmarked pages; black and white (some may be disturbing) photos; dust jacket good with minor crease and minor edge wear.
 
Dust Jacket Flap -
In Brazil, spiritism - or "voodoo" as we Americans might call it - permeates every aspect of life.  In the remote villages of the vast interior and in the teeming cities along the coast, among both illiterate blacks and sophisticated whites, the power of unseen gods and spirits to heal or harm, to save lives or take them, is almost universally accepted.
 
In preparing this book, David St. Clair, an American journalist living in Brazil, set out to learn more about these widespread beliefs.  He studied Brazil's unique cultural heritage to discover how African traditions, 18th-centure European mysticism, and even the Catholic Church all helped shape today's rites and beliefs.  He compiled a list of popular hexes and incantations, interviewed many of the country's leading mediums and witnessed the psychic phenomena they produced...