Crow Dog: Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men [Hardcover]

Leonard Crow Dog (Author), Richard Erdoes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1995

A Native American family saga told through the voices of four generations of medicine men. This epic account records an unbroken chain of events that links the four men together, revealing the spiritual lives of a family, and celebrating Sioux history and culture. Fine in fine dust jacket. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. 243 p. Audience: General/trade; General/trade. Tops of boards are a little sunned. Back free end paper has a crease. Otherwise Fine.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In January 1890, Leonard Crow Dog's great-grandfather, Jerome Crow Dog, surrendered to the U.S. Army; he was the last of the ghost dancers, who brought a "new way of praying, of relating to the spirits." Ninety-three years later, Leonard Crow Dog revived the ghost dance at Wounded Knee. From childhood he was destined to be a medicine man; he recounts family history through four generations?Jerome was the first Native American to win a case in the Supreme Court; Leonard's father, Henry, introduced peyote to the Lakota Sioux. He details tribal ceremonies and their meanings. By 1971, Leonard Crow Dog had become spiritual leader of the American Indian Movement. In that role and also as medicine man, he was present at the 1972 march on Washington and the siege of Wounded Knee in 1973. With Richard Erdoes (Lakota Woman), he gives a stirring account of both events?a horror story of government brutality and vindictiveness, of prejudice and injustice. Here he offers an illuminating introduction to Sioux culture. Photos not seen by PW. $30,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Here is another addition to Erdoes's autobiographical collaborations with Native Americans that blend oral tradition with Western linear history (Crying for a Dream: The World Through Native American Eyes, LJ 2/1/90). Through the experiences of this family of great medicine men, readers are taken on an intimate journey through 120 years of Lakota history. Events that will already be familiar to some readers are recounted within a moving spiritual framework, replete with descriptions of the ceremonial rites and daily spiritual life characteristic of what the outside world deems Native American culture. We witness through "spiritual eyes" the beginnings of the controversial Native American Church, the Ghost Dance, the American Indian Movement, reservation life, and the "ethnic genocide" of the Indian boarding school system. Most libraries will want this volume to stand alongside Lakota Woman (LJ 2/15/90) and Gift of Power: The Life and Teachings of a Lakota Medicine Man (Bear & Co., 1992), similar titles by Erdoes.?Bruce Alan Hanson, Wayzata East J.H.S. Lib., Minn.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060168617
• ISBN-13: 978-0060168612
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,678,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History - past and present!, February 6, 2001

By 

"zarings3" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crow Dog: Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men (Paperback)

In the beginning paragraph it says, "We are still making history." as Crow Dog explains his family roots. That sentence sums up the book for me. It is history. The history that is learned and not lost by Crow Dog. The ceremonies and native ways that he is trying to maintain and to pass on are intricately described. I don't think I have read a book that is so visually written. I could picture the things he described. I savored this book for a few months, letting each chapter sink in. Although the book is written in a simple manner there is nothing simple about the information shared. A great read!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rare book explaining the truth about Native American life., July 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Crow Dog: Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men (Paperback)

With the abundant help of Richard Erdoes, Leonard Crowdog gives us the history of his people and their never-ending battle for freedom in a white world that was once theirs. I highly recomend this book for people interrested in reading about the injustices loaded onto the Native American people since the arrival of white men on their land.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CROW DOG THE GREATNESS OF THE COYOTE, November 20, 2005

By 

C-real Productions Cyrille Autin (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crow Dog: Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men (Paperback)

THE FIRST PART OF THE BOOK IS INCREDIBLE ENLIGHTNING GUIDANCE THROUGH THE RITES, CULTURE AND LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. THEN WE MOVE INTO RECENT HISTORY WITH THE CREATION OF AIM ITS STRUGGLE AND AMAZING VICTORIES; TO MOVE ON WITH PROSECUTION PERSECUTION TORTURE OF THE PEOPLE WHO FOUGHT AND DIE FOR THEIR CULTURE AND ARE STILL FIGHTING TODAY FOR THE RIGHT TO BE WHO THEY ARE. (RESPECT!)

WHEN CROW DOG DESCRIBE HIS JAIL TIME IT IS SO REALISTIC AND SENSITIVE YOU FEEL YOU ARE THERE INSIDE HIM AND THE WALLS, BUT WHEN YOU SHARE HIS FINAL FEAR: YOU ARE BREATHLESS ABOUT TO CHOKE!

ALL THIS HAD TO END UP IN A SUN DANCE.

A WONDERFUL BOOK WHICH SHOULD BE INTO EVERY LIBRARY, BOOKSTORES AND MOST DEFINETELY ON YOUR BOOK SHELVES.

1 HEART!

C