Customer Reviews

Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, The Premier Edition

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I saw this was rated one star and couldn't believe it. Now I see it was not the book that was being rated but erroneously it was the "seller" who failed to deliver. The seller should have given negative feedback to the seller and left the book alone.


This is a wonderful book on so many levels. I went back to college at 40+ and read it then. Later on I bought it for my grown son. It's full of patient wisdom and compassion that we all need to remember how to use and seldom see anymore. Some things never go out of style. They touch on basic human qualities and needs.

What makes this edition of Black Elk Speaks valuable is the marginal notes by Raymond L. DeMallie, who edited the typescripts of the original interviews from which John G. Neihardt created this book. These notes make clear just how much Neihardt used Black Elk's words to promote his own point of view. In the Kindle edition, these notes are hyperlinked to the text, which would have been a great idea if it had been done well. But the text of these notes in the Kindle edition is often incoherent, as though someone had read them aloud into a voice-recognition program that scrambled letters and mashed words together or separated them in strange ways. Sometimes numbers are translated as letters or other symbols. I had to compare a copy of the print edition with the Kindle text at several points before I could make sense of it. That defeated the whole purpose of having a digital copy. Also, getting back to the text from the notes was often a problem. Amazon should exercise quality control with its electronic books.

I didn't read this edition; a little paperback version came to me. I read it long ago and read it again recently. This book had an incredible impact on me. Over the years people have come to criticize the author, John Neidhardt. The book ends somewhat abruptly not long after Wounded Knee and then there is an account of Black Elk's prayer on Harney Peak when he was an old man and he asked to make his people live again kind of tacked on the end. Many seem to feel Neidhardt was exploiting Black Elk to get a book out of him. I don't claim to be an expert on Black Elk and this subject, but from what I know I do not agree with the totally cynical assessment. Black Elk had been off the reservation as a young man in the Buffalo Bill Show and given his experiences he was hardly naive or ignorant. Black Elk's son Ben had been in the Carlyle school so he would have known if the book did not reflect his father's vision and words and life. The book was also not an instant bestseller. Neidhardt promoted this book and Black Elk's vision tirelessly until the end of his life and I truly believe it was because he saw the incredible spiritual nature of Black Elk, his life, and visions. And his "great vision" as a youngster can only be described as cataclysmic and psychedelic. When the spirits want you to see something you will see it and no drugs are necessary.

Neidhardt left out the ensuing years on Pine Ridge Reservation and Black Elk's acceptance of Catholicism to frame a lost way of life, the sadness and injustice of it, and the greatness and seeming inevitability of Black Elk's vision. I believe any poetic license taken was in service of bringing forth a greater truth. Those who want to pick at the book miss the greater impact of Black Elk's life and vision. As this was not Neidhardt's culture he probably also didn't totally understand nor was he able to explain some things, but again, are we missing the greater truth of the book by focusing on imperfections? Read this book with an open heart and you won't be disappointed.

Some feel Black Elk became a Catholic as a way of continuing to teach the Lakota way along with the Christian faith to preserve the Lakota culture. I believe he was intelligent and had such a great spirit he saw he could blend both faiths and build a bridge for the future. Nor was he intimidated into the Christian faith. His daughter said his acceptance of the Catholic faith was true and not a sham to keep teaching the Lakota ways surreptitiously. After reading this book, if Black Elk interests you there are books available on the later half of his life. Black Elk lived until 1950.

Black Elk Speaks is a gift for my husband's birthday this month. This book is excellent in that it gives us a really intimate look into the life of a Native American. We cannot know this holy man any other way, since he has been dead long years. If we want to know about our country and its early people, this book is one we need to read. It is excellently written and clearly gets my vote as a worthwhile piece of nonfiction.

This is perhaps the finest primary source in Native American studies you will every read. Black Elk was born in a tepee, a witness to the Little Big Horn and documents the vanishing way of life.

Then we started for where the bison were. The soldier band went first, riding twenty abreast, and anybody who dared go ahead of them would get knocked off his horse. They kept order, and everybody had to obey. After them came hunters, riding five abreast. Then the head man of the advisers went around picking out the best hunters with the fastest horses, and to these he said: "Good young warriors, my relatives, your work I know is good. What you do is good always; so to-day you shall feed the helpless. Perhaps there are some old and feeble people without sons, or some who have little children and no man. You help these, and whatever you kill shall be theirs." This was a great honor for young men. - Black Elk Speaks

What Black Elk is describing is a society that functions with a village concept. Everyone is thought of when all decisions are made. Imagine if every law that was made benefited every citizen no matter how old, how poor, or how disabled they were. What would our elderly care facilities look like? What would our schools look like? What would our hospitals look like? What would our police force look like? Would we have prisons? If so, would they actually rehabilitate instead of punishing? If we could create a revolution of village to replace this plantation society, that is a new world order that I would sign up for.

This book is a phenomenal edition with enlightening notes and good, sturdy paper and all the prefaces. This edition also has all of the Standing Bear paintings, in color - and they are beautiful.

If you want to pick up Black Elk Speaks, I recommend this edition.

This book was in my library for years until I lent it out. The person enjoyed it so much I just bought a new one to replace it. If you are interested in the truth about a native way of life, this is a must read.

This book gives a good insight at the experiences and beliefs of one of the great Shamans of the Oglala Lakota. His story is told in simple, honest language, which could teach a lot of white people a thing or two.

Can only highly recommend it.

The story is interesting, but the Kindle edition had quite a few typeo's which was distracting to the flow of the story. I would recommend purchasing the book rather than the Kindle edition.