Here is "the real book" of the incredible Mahalia Jackson, as pledged to her by her close friend, Laurraine Goreau, before her death. Rich in poetic condensation and vivid imagery, it reaches back to recreate an era and a way of life that no longer exist; it surfaces hidden folk lore and cultural patterns; it delves into Voodoo and a secret psychic world. It shows you jazz at its roots when it was "jass", the Devil's temptation; first-hand, it gives you the surprising sociological significances of the whole gospel movement ... but most of all, it takes you with a misshapen mote on a forgotten scrap of river-land as Mahalia pushes, fights, sings her way to a personage of unique stature among Americans to th eworld's peoples, revered by hundreds of thousands as a symbol of utter integrity, the bearer of God's tidings.