Mary Ann Clark is both a scholar and practitioner of Santería. In addition to teaching in the Religious Studies Program at the University of Houston and the School of Human Sciences and Humanities at the University of Houston Clear Lake, she is the coordinator of the Council of Societies for the Study of Religion. She is the author of Where Men are Wives and Mothers Rule: Santeria Ritual Practices and their Gender Implications as well as several articles, book chapters, and book reviews.

Clark provides an accessible, sympathetic introduction to an often-misunderstood religion, Santeria. Intended for seekers or those with no background in the religion, the book even provides instructions on worship etiquette. In ten brief but clear chapters, Clark takes the reader from the origins of the religion in Africa (chapter 2) to a discussion of its mythologies and deities or orishas (chapter 4), to an explanation of its rituals of divination (chapter 7) and initiation (chapter 8), to a consideration of its future in the US (chapter 10). The book is best in explaining how Santeria is different from yet appropriates other Caribbean religions--Spiritism (Espiritismo) and Palo Monte--as it morphs into Santerismo….A useful glossary lists Spanish and Yoruba words used in the religion. Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates, general readers.

Mary Ann Clark is both a scholar and practitioner of Santería. In addition to teaching in the Religious Studies Program at the University of Houston and the School of Human Sciences and Humanities at the University of Houston Clear Lake, she is the coordinator of the Council of Societies for the Study of Religion. She is the author of Where Men are Wives and Mothers Rule: Santeria Ritual Practices and their Gender Implications as well as several articles, book chapters, and book reviews.

Clark provides an accessible, sympathetic introduction to an often-misunderstood religion, Santeria. Intended for seekers or those with no background in the religion, the book even provides instructions on worship etiquette. In ten brief but clear chapters, Clark takes the reader from the origins of the religion in Africa (chapter 2) to a discussion of its mythologies and deities or orishas (chapter 4), to an explanation of its rituals of divination (chapter 7) and initiation (chapter 8), to a consideration of its future in the US (chapter 10). The book is best in explaining how Santeria is different from yet appropriates other Caribbean religions--Spiritism (Espiritismo) and Palo Monte--as it morphs into Santerismo….A useful glossary lists Spanish and Yoruba words used in the religion. Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates, general readers.

Mary Ann Clark is both a scholar and practitioner of Santería. In addition to teaching in the Religious Studies Program at the University of Houston and the School of Human Sciences and Humanities at the University of Houston Clear Lake, she is the coordinator of the Council of Societies for the Study of Religion. She is the author of Where Men are Wives and Mothers Rule: Santeria Ritual Practices and their Gender Implications as well as several articles, book chapters, and book reviews.

Clark provides an accessible, sympathetic introduction to an often-misunderstood religion, Santeria. Intended for seekers or those with no background in the religion, the book even provides instructions on worship etiquette. In ten brief but clear chapters, Clark takes the reader from the origins of the religion in Africa (chapter 2) to a discussion of its mythologies and deities or orishas (chapter 4), to an explanation of its rituals of divination (chapter 7) and initiation (chapter 8), to a consideration of its future in the US (chapter 10). The book is best in explaining how Santeria is different from yet appropriates other Caribbean religions--Spiritism (Espiritismo) and Palo Monte--as it morphs into Santerismo….A useful glossary lists Spanish and Yoruba words used in the religion. Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates, general readers.