Voodoo Fire in Haiti Tapa blanda - 2005

"The drums took on a different rhythm, rattling out a sharp staccato message, accompanied by the heavy pounding of the bass. Faster and faster flew the feet of the dancers as they whirled round the fire. Their smooth muscles writhed and cramped as under the blows of an invisible whip."

From his steamer voyage from Jazz Age New York to Cap Haitien to his punishing trek through the island's interior jungle to his rapt, yet fearful, attendance at an authentic voodoo ceremony, Richard A. Loederer captures the sights, sounds, and sensations of this mysterious Caribbean republic. Originally published in German in 1932, Loederer's eyewitness account of his adventures in Haiti has long been out of print. The author's own art deco-style woodcuts add to the exotic appeal of this volume, which chronicles the vanishing African traditions of the island's people.

Richard A. Loederer (1894-1981) was born in Vienna and trained as an artist at both the Academy of Fine Arts there and the Schule Reimann in Berlin. After moving to New York City, he illustrated several books and painted murals for the Works Progress Administration.