3 used & new from $89.96

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

I own the rights to this title and would like to make it available again through Amazon.

Tell the Publisher! I�d like to read this book on Kindle Don�t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.

Magic Island (Paperback)

~ W. B. Seabrook (Author), Alexander King (Illustrator)

4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.

1 new from $99.95 2 used from $89.96

Formats		Amazon Price	New from	Used from
Hardcover Available from these sellers. Published December 31, 1928	Hardcover, December 31, 1928	--	--	$35.00
	See # more hardcovers
	Show fewer hardcovers
Paperback Available from these sellers. Published May 31, 1989	Paperback, May 31, 1989	--	$55.00	$55.00
Paperback Available from these sellers. Published May 2003	Paperback, May 2003	--	$99.95	$89.96
	See # more paperbacks
	Show fewer paperbacks
Textbook Binding Published May 31, 1977 Textbook Binding: A sturdier hardcover binding suited to being open longer and used more frequently.	Textbook Binding, May 31, 1977	--	--	--
	See # more other formats
	Show fewer other formats

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombis, and Magic

by Wade Davis

4.5 out of 5 stars (27) $10.80

Secrets of Voodoo

by Milo Rigaud

4.4 out of 5 stars (14) $10.17

Masters of the Dew

by Jacques Roumain

4.7 out of 5 stars (7) $13.69

Book of the Dead: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema

by Jamie Russell

4.7 out of 5 stars (32) $19.77

Dead Alive

DVD ~ Timothy Balme

4.4 out of 5 stars (445) $8.49

› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

1929. The author's West Indian mail boat lay at anchor in a tropical green gulf. At the water's edge, lit by sunset, sprawled the town of Cap Haitien. Among the modern structures were the wrecked mansions of the 16th century French colonials who imported slaves from Africa and made Haiti the richest colony in the western hemisphere. In the ruins was the palace built for Pauline Bonaparte when Napoleon sent his brother-in-law with an imperial army to do battle with slaves who had won their freedom. All this was panoramic as they lay at anchor, but as night fell, it faded to vagueness and disappeared. Only the jungle mountains remained, dark, mysterious; and from their slopes came presently far across the water the steady boom of Voodoo drums.

Product Details

Paperback: 404 pages
Publisher: Kessinger Publishing (May 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0766159086
ISBN-13: 978-0766159082
Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.2 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,578,921 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's William Seabrook Page

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	98% buy the item featured on this page: Magic Island 4.5 out of 5 stars (2)
	2% buy Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica (P.S.) 4.4 out of 5 stars (10) $10.07

Explore similar items

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

(What's this?)

Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).

voodoo(22)

zombies(12)

magic(12)

magick(14)

anthropology of religion(7)

occult(11)

autobiographica l(5)

grimoires(13)

wade davis(5)

haiti(5)

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Journey to Insanity, February 5, 2002

By	Asmodeus (Spokane, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Magic Island (Textbook Binding)

I must admit that I am drawn to musty, old books like a moth to a flame. I hapharzardly ran across a 1929 hardcover edition of Seabrook's "Magic Island" and was immediately struck by the dark and brooding illustrations as well as the marvelous old black & white photos within its yellowed leaves. A brief thumbing through the chapter listings announced its topic to me: voodoo and black magic in Haiti.

Seabrook was a well-travelled journalist and author of numerous newspaper articles, short stories, and books. "Magic Island" finds him living in turn of the century Haiti and takes you deep into his search for information about voodoo and black magic as practiced among the locals. You are not only stepping back into early 1900's society and ways, but into the unspoken underbelly of Haiti that few "white" men were ever allowed to see.

This book is simply fascinating from front to back, but best to take into consideration the time period this was written and do not expect a rip-roaring-Indiana-Jones-style adventure that Hollywood has seemed to fill the current public's minds with. The book is indeed slow, as much of Seabrook's writing is of his conversations and meetings that ultimately lead him to the secret society and its practices. Have patience, though, and you will arrive to the "juicy" center and the voodoo rites Seabrook was allowed to witness and sometimes even participate in as an initiate.

I would suggest getting an early edition of this wonderful book as I did. By literally holding in your hands something that is as old as the story itself, it seems to somehow bring you a sense of proper time displacement and aids with the immersion into Seabrook's journey.

I look forward to reading other books by Seabrook as his life was as fascinating as it was sordid: author, world traveller, acquaintence of Aleister Crowley, chronic alcoholic, cannibalist, sexual sadist & masochist, and finally an institutionalized patient of the Rockland State Hospital up until his untimely suicide by an overdose of sleeping pills.

Perhaps his quests into the "other" side of human nature were merely a preamble to the bigger question of his ownself and his many demons that followed him. Regardless, you'll have fun going along for the ride.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How Voudon Was Viewed Between the Wars, August 12, 1999

By	Dianna Deeley (San Francisco,, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Magic Island (The Armchair traveller series) (Paperback)

If you know Seabrook, and if you're halfway interested in magic, you should, you know how really well he writes. Most people are going to be interested primarily in the first section, which deals with "voodoo." He was much more open than most people of his era, and took as fair an approach to "voodoo" as was possible for a white man. If it doesn't look much like modern descriptions, that's because the religion is evolving.

Of real interest was his observation of the administration of Haiti. I was fascinated.

If they ever, ever reissue his "Witchcraft," snatch it up. I have an old copy, and it's wonderful.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 2 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jqOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jqOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jqOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; }

Customer Discussions

This product's forum

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight

Start a new discussion

Topic:

First post:

Receive e-mail when new posts are made

Prompts for sign-in

Guidelines

Active discussions in related forums

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
history The Atomic Bombing of Japan	1748	3 minutes ago
history Who made the history; men or circunstancies	9	12 minutes ago
history Holocaust Denial Dissected	4124	22 minutes ago
history The Gold Problem	51	1 hour ago
history Islam is Peace Agree or disagree	3382	1 hour ago
history Most important drug user? Why?	9420	2 hours ago
history Human Biodiversity, history and modernity: Murray, Sailer, Derbyshire.	622	2 hours ago