Books by Carolyn Long
Spiritual Merchants: Religion, Magic, and Commerce
Spiritual Merchants: Religion, Magic, and Commerce (2001) provides an inside look at the followers of African-based belief systems and the retailers and manufacturers who supply them. Traveling from New Orleans to New York, from Charleston to Los Angeles, Long takes readers on a tour of these shops, examines the origins of the products, and profiles the merchants who sell them.
A New Orleans Voudou Priestess: The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau
A New Orleans Voudou Priestess: The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau (2006) separates verifiable fact from semi-truths and complete fabrication about the life of the legendary Marie Laveau. In this book, Long also explores the unique social, political, and legal setting in which the lives of Laveau’s African and European ancestors became intertwined in nineteenth century New Orleans.
Madame Lalaurie, Mistress of the Haunted House
In Madame Lalaurie, Mistress of the Haunted House (2012), Long disentangles the threads of fact and legend surrounding Madame Lalaurie that have intertwined over the decades. Was Lalaurie a sadistic abuser? Mentally ill? Or merely the victim of an unfair press? Using carefully documented eyewitness testimony, archival documents, and family letters, Long recounts Lalaurie’s life from legal troubles before the fire and scandal through her exile to France and death in Paris in 1849.
The Tomb of Marie Laveau: In St. Louis Cemetery No. 1
The Tomb of Marie Laveau: In St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 (2016) is an extensively researched, indispensable guide concerning Marie Laveau and the family members, friends, and strangers interred in the famous St. Louis Cemetery tomb. Long’s most recent book features the first known statement to appear in print of Marie Laveau’s own words as to her age and condition of health that was taken in a deposition by a Justice of the Peace on February 24, 1873.