A New Orleans Voudou Priestess: The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau

Ms. Long has extensive historical research to support her review of Marie Laveau. She is successful in separating documented facts from folklore and providing an objectives study of Marie Laveau.

This book is likely the most accurately researched book on Marie Laveau that has been written. I liked the book from a historically researched accurate work of non-fiction. Carolyn Morrow Long went though an enormous amount of research to write this book. She also read many other authors on Marie Laveau includes snippets of their work to give the reader a chance to see what other authors have said about Marie. Will you come away feeling that you knew Marie? Not really, but you will come away from reading this book knowing that the author researched the period and people of the times. From a purely historical perspective, this book is a fascinating read. The author writes about the times and the people and the way they lived. There are addresses researched, newspaper reports (although, they seem to be very embellished and no fault of the author) birth, baptism and death records and archived ownership records. I felt as if you could really experience the city of New Orleans from this book. The stage was set for a story and I think many people that have written about the Voudou Priestess have written stories that embellished the truth. There are no journals to tell this mysterious story. You do not feel that you know Marie but you are given the information on the way she lived and the times she lived in. If the author had more information, she would have given it to you. She does a wonderful job of putting the information together. I would have loved to understand exactly what the Voudou Priestess did and who she was personally. However, you cannot write a book about a personality if you don't have her own written story. I did appreciate eyewitness accounts of things seen and reported them to the Louisiana Writers Project. Those stories are the closest I think we will get.I have to give the author my respect for 10 years of work on this project. She did a great job. Perhaps I will read one of the embellished works for fun but I guess I'd rather have a good read that is as close to the truth as possible.If you are interested in sorting through the stories about Marie, this is the book to get. I would have loved to pick up a book with a beautiful story and not a textbook. However, I commend the author on writing an extremely well researched book that brings the time and story to life.

I enjoyed reading "A New Orleans Voudou Priestess: The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau," by Carolyn Morrow Long. I finished it in a couple of days. I found the book to be informative and full of historical details.Authors must "fictionalize" historical figures when creating a compelling narrative. Storytelling must be truthful. People today would not be able to travel back in time and experience events that took place at that time. While reading along in the book, I found myself taking liberties, speculating, and putting facts together creatively. The book was full of real-life facts, but only fiction could make the story cohesive.I therefore remind myself to keep an open mind whenever I read about a historical figure. An author would not be able to accurately describe someone who lived decades ago. Consequently, it would be impossible to follow and tell the story as it unfolded. One would not be unable to discern truth at that level.

I was in New Orleans for a few days and I became very interested in all the voodoo and the Marie Laveau legend from the brief descriptions that I heard from tour guides. I saw this book on the shelf in the Voodoo Museum in New Orleans and it seemed like a good one.After I read it, I can definitely say that is was worth every penny! It is based on actual facts (unlike a lot of the other books about Marie Laveau) found in records and in addition to all the facts I learnt about Marie Laveau it gives a great view of the history of New Orleans in general. I loved it, it was a great read!

As the author of  Coffin Girls (Elegantly Undead: Book 1 of the Coffin Girls Witch Vampire Series) , a paranormal romance based in New Orleans, I researched the place, culture and voodoo extensively. This book offered authenticated insights into the life of a voodoo legend. The author researched her subject thoroughly and presented the information in an easy-to-read, logical manner. Although it is largely biographical, I didn't experience it as a heavy read. I found the contextual information on colonial New Orleans and the racial politics riveting and interestingly very similar to South Africa's history. It made me consider the true evolution of man and what makes us humane, successful and what creates a truly diverse and unique place despite life's challenges!

Very informative book that took the myth away from the historical fact chose documents family tree history birth and burial records all from the archives in New Orleans great book if you want facts and not fiction about one of the great women of New Orleans Louisiana

This book is great if you want to know the history of New Orleans

This almost reads like a research paper but everything you ever wanted to know fact or fiction is included. I thought it was interesting that the author included the history of the myths. That sentence will make sense if you read the book. It took me a while to read it. I set it down a few times and came back to it. Very good.

It's a great informative book, a little heavy at times, but certainly dint let that put you off from purchasing it, I'd rather have something thoroughly researched than made up or guessed

Found this a little heavy going but again, it gives a good insight into the Voodoo religion and how it was used for both good and evil

This is written in the style of an undergraduate C- paper. The book would have been fine if it were merely research notes for a real publication. The extensive Bibliography is good and this is what would expect from a student. On the whole, this book is boring and repetitive. It's as though Carolyn Morrow Long and her editor never discussed the reason this work should be published in the first place. The Queen of Voodoo deserves better than this.