Voodoo. Leben mit Göttern und Heilern in Benin.

This volume of photographs packs a very profound punch in 160 pages. While I cannot speak to the text of the book as I do not speak German - speaking of which: THE TEXT OF THIS BOOK IS IN GERMAN - NOT ENGLISH!! - the visual content between the two covers is incredibly powerful. The creators of this title did a masterful job of presenting the subject matter in such a diverse manner that the volume as a whole offers a complete experience in every sense of the word. The photographs - each and every one are absolutely gorgeously captured. Each photo stands on its own as a delight of a visual experience. The real victory for the photographers, however, can be best appreciated from the perspective of presentation. While there are certainly individual images within that are sure to satisfy even the most gluttonous of visual/sensory junkies with the colors and the captured actions of the subjects as well as the ambivalent allure of what we ignore at our own consequence: the "exoticism" and the seeming "enchantment" that these scenes hold for many a Western audience member. But the power of this book is in the nuance. The photographers truly did a masterful job of organizing and editing so that the final product offers glimpses of just about every situation, scenario, and circumstance that one could imagine existing in relation to the book's subject. In my personal opinion, the other fundamental strength of the work lies in its staying power. The photographs and way that they are presented - frame by frame, page by page, chapter by chapter - have for me proven themselves to be the ultimate gift that keeps on giving. I remember how taken I was with these images immediately upon opening the front cover when I first discovered the book. Years later, I regularly experience the shots within with the same amount of intensity and the same level of excitement upon picking the volume up off the coffee table and opening to a random page. 160 pages of pure eye-opening beauty.