Customer Reviews

Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux

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I could not have read this book without then reading the original notes from which it was taken. "Black Elk Speaks" is a lovely piece of literature, but it is incomplete without the original notes, published as "The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt." I admire Black Elk's ability to express universal philosophical insights. This book will be understood on many levels, but was meant to appeal to those seeking a mature contemplation on the great mystery of life.

This book is quite difficult to read on many levels - but the challenge it presents to mainstream, American readers is worth stretching one's mind to encompass.

As with any written account of an oral presentation, it often seems as if it lacks polish. But its directness is part of its art. It is not a story told to entertain. It is a recounting of an important story and a vision unfulfilled, a factor that puzzles the sympathetic reader as much as it seemed to grieve Black Elk himself.

The value to many readers lies in hearing a different point of view no only on history but also on valid ways of knowing and thinking. As a counterpoint to European epistemology, this book is worth the effort to see the world through another set of eyes.

This book is very different from many others that I have read about Native Americans. It feels as though Black Elk is there having a conversation with you. A very personal book. Provides valuable insights to life no matter what your ethnic background.

As I recall, it was one of those hot, smoggy summer days in LA. We were sitting on a park bench in the shade. The park was one of those anonymous lttle collections of half-watered, half-dead grassy spots that dot the LA sprawl. Present were Manuel, his wife Vera chief of what was left of the Huhumonga tribe (Gabrielino, in Spanish), and several of us white activists. We were all working to preserve the remaining sage scrub beds (a sacred plant to Western tribes) from San Bernardino area developers. Now, Manuel, as long as I had known him, was a mild-mannered man, content to let Vera make decisions for those Gabrielinos still active in tribal affairs. Maybe, it was the summer heat or the unruly kids playing nearby, I don't know. But suddenly Manuel jumped from the bench, strode over to the several families with the kids, and in a stern and steady voice proceeded to remind them that all the land upon which they now walked and drove had once belonged to his people who had peaceably roamed the land. A moment later, he returned, and we resumed without comment. But I've never forgotten that moment, not because it was embarrassing for Manuel or for the bewildered families who had no idea who he was, but for what it demonstrated to me. That even in the middle of one of America's great cities, having long ago replaced the vast beds of coastal sage and peaceable people, there remain ghostly encounters with a very real pre-European past.

And that's the sort of glimpse Black Elk Speaks provides in wonderful detail. The past comes alive through the proverbial eyes of a revered man whose people have been overly villified or overly romanticized, but rarely portrayed in all their human complexity. Black Elk, I think, manages the complexity as he recounts experiences from boyhood through young adulthood. From the poetically practical names of people and months, eg. Moon of the Grass Appearing (April), to the migrations across traditional lands, to the historic battles with the Wasichus (white men), to the Ogalalas' end at Wounded Knee, the reader is immersed in a strange and vanished culture. It's said in the notes that the Indian Black Elk and the white man John Neihardt possessed something of a common spirit that communicated across racial and linguistic barriers. As it reads, the seamlessly flowing narrative demonstrates something of a communal overlap, a kind of deeper commonality. The book's centerpiece revolves around the nine year-old Black Elk's Great Vision, recounted here in all its colorful and lyrical detail. Whatever the prophetic value, the strength of Black Elk's Vision clearly guided and infused him for the remainder of his life, and provides a powerful potrait of another people's wishes and dreams.

Frankly, I've never put much stock in the metaphysics of visions, whether of the white man's Biblical variety or the Native American's pantheistc kind. But I have to confess that when I compare America's great national vision of Manifest Destiny with Black Elk's, I much prefer the latter. It's certainly more poetic and a lot less threatening to the planet. Something like that, I believe, is where the real value of looking at the world through the eyes of others lies. Perhaps it's the best way for a skeptic like me to expand his own consciousness, and share a vanished time and place as I did for a brief moment on that long ago park bench.

This was a very interesting first hand accounting of the history leading up
to Little Big Horn. You get a peak into the mystical basis for decision
making and of how the Oglala and several other tribes' living styles were
drastically changed over a brief period of time.
The beginning chapter is the recounting of a dream, which may be hard
to follow, but it is important and lays the groundwork for what happens
later in the book.

The Power is in the Understanding

The "meaning" of this book is summarized by Black Elk himself when he says, and repeats, toward the end of the book "The power is in the Understanding". He is explaining how it was decided that he should share with the rest of his tribe a vision he has been entrusted with. They develop a ritual dance, which acts out his vision. In this manner, the entire tribe participates in the communication of this vision, and hopefully results in understanding of its message. I believe Black Elk's motivation in participating in the interviews, which this book captures, is his desire to share with all people the truth of what happened to him and his people, and the truth of what his spiritual lessons offer.

He wants to empower everyone through understanding. The Power is in the Understanding.

Most review's I've read on this book fall primarily into two camps: "Scholastic" (this is a great work of history / theology) or "Unappreciative" (I don't understand why anyone would want to read this).

This book is a verbatim (edited for presentation I assume) dictation of interviews with Black Elk. So, this is not a book read for "entertainment". However, as a historical documentation it cannot be replaced.

This is a must-read for anyone interested in Theology and/or Native American studies.

I have to disagree with some people's assessment of this title. I found this book to be very insightful and very intimate in nature. I suppose for non-fiction I do tend to a have preference for books that have an approachable, if not conversational style. And that is really what this feels like. Black Elk recounts his life and spiritual experience with beautiful imagery that proves to be quite profound in its simplicity. While the Native American culture is highly romanticized through many works by people not of that ethnicity, I think this book gives readers something that the others don't. A look into the lives of Native Americans through their eyes. Real, flawed, but genuine. While many might think that Black Elk may despise the white man for his ways and the treatment of his people, there is a great understanding that underlies his words that displays a great respect for his fellow man regardless of skin color. Neihardt and Black Elk were kindred spirits and this comes through. In the end, like Chief Seattle said before him, Black Elk serves to remind readers of man's connection to the earth and to one another.

A must have for any anthropology student, historian, or light worker. Beautifully translated and easy to read.

Black Elk Speaks is a 1932 autobiography of an Oglala Sioux medicine man as told to John Neihardt.

In the summer of 1930, as part of his research into the Native American perspective on the Ghost Dance movement, Neihardt contacted an Oglala holy man named Black Elk, who had been present as a young man at the 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn and the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre. As Neihardt tells the story, Black Elk gave him the gift of his life's narrative, including the visions he had had and some of the Oglala rituals he had performed. The two men developed a close friendship. The book Black Elk Speaks, grew from their conversations continuing in the spring of 1931, and is now Neihardt's most familiar work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Elk_Speaks

Every person who lives in the United States should read the words of the Native Americans of this land. These words reflect unspoken spirit.