Book Information

Book ID Asin: 0803261705
Book Title: Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, Twenty-First Century Edition
Book Author: John G. Neihardt,Vine Deloria Jr.
Book Format and Price:
Book Format Name: Hardcover
Book Format Price: $34.14
Book Format Name: Paperback
Book Format Price: $7.14
Book Format Name: MassMarket Paperback
Book Format Price: $19.00
Book Format Name: AudioCassette
Book Format Price: $33.60
Book Price: unknown
Book Category: Books, History, Americas and unknown
Book Rating: 357 ratings

Book Product Detail

• Best Sellers Rank: #2,288,379 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #889 in Native American Religion
  • #8,579 in Native American History (Books)
  • #48,343 in U.S. State & Local History

• Customer Reviews:
  4.7 out of 5 stars 357 ratings

unknown

Book Review

Name: Suzanne traylor
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Wonderful!
Date: Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2022
Review: I loved the truth and spiritual way of life

Name: Keith Lorenz
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Devastating View of the White Man's Betrayal of the Sioux
Date: Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2012
Review: This is an authentic recollection, taken down in 1930 by a professor/anthropologist, of a Sioux medicine man and warrior's life, an Indian who was present at both the defeat of General Custer (1876) and the massacre of Sioux women and children at Wounded Knee in 1890. The speaker,
Black Elk, tells with great poignancy his early visions as a youth that propelled him to be a healer; of the betrayal of his Sioux people by the whites when gold was discovered in the Black Hills of Dakota territory; of the "rubbing out of Long Hair" ( the defeat of Custer), of Black Elk's travels in Europe as a performer in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show; and finally of his return to the frontier to witness and fight against US soldiers at Wounded Knee. He also recounts the assassinations of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull by the Reservation police.
This is a book that should be on the reading list of every US high school's American History class. It is a rare insight into the broken treaties and the final betrayal, incarceration and placing on reservations of the proud, independent Sioux nation. It is the end of the frontier and the end of a way of life. Sadly, it is also a curtain raiser to the same kind of atrocities, little known, that US forces committed against Filipinos in the first years of the 1900's; and it leads to My Lai in Vietnam, and Abu Gharib in Iraq. It is another reminder that war and colonization is hell, and that commanders cannot be counted on to restrain their men, and that the casualties of conquest are more often civilians than soldiers.
The real sadness of this book, however, is Black Elk's measured but ultimately tragic telling of the death of the Sioux way of life in the final decades of the 1800's, of the breaking of their spirit, and the perishing of their magical, nomadic culture at the hands of "Western progress."

Name: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Black Elk speaks: It is a prediction of the future
Date: Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2017
Review: I loved this prescient bio; it is an allegory for our times.The Indians had property but not necessarily rights to it. For example, "Black Elk speaks" about stealing other Indian tribe's horses matter of fact way and of a tribe member kidnapping a young squaw. This was said in a matter of fact way. "Taken" would have been a better word. The American government took the land kept much of it for itself. The feds forced Indians on reservations and doesn't acknowledge the personal property rights of the individual Indians on the reservations. The federal government along with its handmaiden phony Non governmental organizations of environmental groups obtain more western land every year by threat of force, by using tax payer monies, or by defacto ownership through regulations. Now in the 21st century the new American Natives (that would be you) are experiencing a new mass movement invasion of federal government & state government & leftist promoted illegal immigrants and "legal" anti-private property rights Islamists. Americans are being put on reservations (islands of semi private property in a sea of federally controlled land) and the gov. is deciding what if any property rights you might have If Americans truly had private property rights this could not happen. Unless we regain an appreciation and take back our property rights your grand kids lives will be as empty and government dependent as Indian lives on reservations today.

Name: PopMaticsProf
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Lots of wisdom in this book
Date: Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2021
Review: I enjoyed learning things from a different perspective

Name: Daniel Pavlovsky
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Important Read. Very moving.
Date: Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2012
Review: I have always been fascinated with the culture of the Native Americans, and this book has for me opened my eyes to not only their culture but their plight as a people. I always loved Native American culture and the art they produce. Even today, it continues to affect me in a profound way. Whether it is reading a book like Black Elk Speaks or beholding a painting by Woody Crumbo, I always get this sense of urgency from them, even today -a sense of urgency to preserve what is left of their culture, resuscitating it any way possible, in order to keep it living for future generations of Native Americans, and also to help non-Native Americans understand.

This book goes through the history of the fall of their culture here in America, told through the eyes of the famous visionary, Black Elk. Reading it, you get a strong sense of their customs, traditions, developing a deeper understanding.

Although most of us know the story of the Native Americans; however, even through the bitter ending of this book, I was still filled with a sense of hope, a hope that at least through art and other arenas of the soul, their culture would be preserved for future generations.

Highly recommended!

Name: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: To Gift To " The People"
Date: Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2005
Review: Most people recognize Black Elk's name if not his legend. From the time he was a small child he had the ability to hear and follow Tankashilah. Elder's of the Lakota people saw it in him and knew he would follow the path. As a child he was raised knowing all the ways, traditions and cultures of the Lakota. He also experienced that life being torn apart: every battle, every torture, every mutilation. All that was Sacred; gone. The People; gone.

After traveling with Buffalo Bill, in Europe, he returned and worked to heal the Lakota. To repair the Sacred Hoop, heal The Tree of Life, these were his goals. He never felt that he suceeded.

In the end, Black Elk dictated this book with the help of relatives who translated, the author, and members of his family. It was Black Elk's last and perhaps greatest gift to the extented family, All The People: The Red, The Yellow, The Black, The White.

If you want to understand the traditions this is a starting point. A must have. It's well written, clear and profound. And, if you've read it well, don't be suprised if it should prove life changing.

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