Black Elk Speaks
(Being the life story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux)
Author John G Neihardt (Flaming Rainbow)
1993 originally printed 1932
ISBN 0 8032 3301 9
On his meeting with the Sioux Holy Man Black Elk, John G Neihardt once said that it was the most memorable experience in his life.
In 1930 while working on the concluding poem of his book 'Cycle of the West', Neihardt had gone to the Pine Ridge Reservation hoping to find "some old medicine man who had been active in the messiah movement and who might be induced to talk with me about the deeper spiritual significance of the matter."
In Neihardt, Black Elk recognized the one who had been sent to learn what "was given to me for men".
The next summer in a long series of talks, Black Elk imparted his own life story and the story of the Oglala Sioux during the tragic decades of the Custer Battle, the Ghost Dance and the Wounded Knee Massacre.
This book contains probably the most in-depth account of the great vision experienced by Black Elk at the age of 9 years old. A vision that would shape both the man and possibly the events that occurred throughout his life.
I found this to be a fascinating and honest, open look into the heart and spirit of a great Holy Man.
Sad, embittered at times, wonderous, confused, but overall poignant account of his life and of the times and events that surrounded him.
A must read!