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In a study that challenges familiar Western modes of thought- Jacob K. Olupona focuses on one of the most important religious centers in Africa and in the world: the Yoruba city of Ile-Ife in southwest Nigeria. The spread of Yoruba traditions in the African diaspora has come to define the cultural identity of millions of black and white people in Brazil- Cuba- Puerto Rico- Trinidad- and the United States. Seen through the eyes of a native- this first comprehensive study of the spiritual and cultural center of the Yoruba religion tells how the city went from great prominence to near obliteration and then rose again as a contemporary city of gods. Throughout- Olupona corroborates the indispensable linkages between religion- cosmology- migration- and kinship as espoused in the power of royal lineages- hegemonic state structure- gender- and the Yoruba sense of place- offering the fullest portrait to date of this sacred African city....