The Golden Isles of Georgia are mysterious and fascinating. The Spanish moss, tabby walls, the "shout" of the Sea Island Singers, and cloudy past reach out to visitors today. The author of this book, a salt-water Geechee, grew up on Sapelo. Her story is wonderfully interesting. The beliefs of the slaves' descendants were so little changed for so many years. Traditions born in western Africa are still hanging on to life even today on Sapelo. I hope the government, even in the name of saving the environment, never succeeds in taking the land away from the Geechee families who lived such true lives there. Their life deserves to continue as long as their faith lives.

Part memoir, part cultural history, part plea on behalf of a fragile culture, God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man is as affecting as the best magic realism. You do not simply read it, you savor it and absorb it into your very soul.

In the book, Cornelia Bailey, resident griot of Sapelo Island off the Georgia coast, spins the story of her growing up in that place and in a time when lives were governed equally by religion, magic, and chance. She admits us deep into the culture of her proud people and introduces us to folkways strong enough to have survived the Middle Passage and the centuries since. So it is with infinite sadness we learn that the forces of progress are rendering these same folkways as fragile as a paper-thin fig shell that washes onto the beach.

It goes without saying that God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man will appeal to cultural historians, anthropologists, naturalists, and environmentalists. The book's strongest appeal, however, will be to lovers of lyrical prose -- and to anyone who delights in the sheer magic of the way words fall on the ear and follow one another on a page.

This is a special book, one that should find a home on every reader's short shelf of well-thumbed volumes that are read and referenced time and again.

God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man transports the reader to the Georgia sea islands. You swear you can smell the marsh, hear the sea birds cry and taste the sweet potatoes. The writing is so pure and the people so true that you come away afraid of Mama Lizzie, furious at Bukra and proud of Grandma when she faces down the deacons. The issues the book tackles are important - ownership of the land, the insidious effects of slavery, the origins of sea island culture in Africa - but it is also a book that captures your heart. A must for anyone who is interested in people. Highly recommended.