Customer Reviews

Singing for a Spirit: A Portrait of the Dakota Spirit

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Vine Deloria, Jr., a contemporary Renaissance man who unfortunately left us this past October, 2005, traces his family back to two brothers coming to North America from France. He spends most of the book on his Great Grandfather Saswe (b. 1816), a Sioux holy man and leader, and his Grandfather Tipi Sapa (b. 1853), a Sioux holy man, leader, and Episcopal priest. He also describes his father's work, Vine Deloria, Sr., also an Episcopal priest.

This is an excellent work which reveals the real world of Sioux life -- one which changed radically with the advent of the Europeans. He describes a saga of how his family, with his people, found ways to survive in a new world that was thrust upon them.

Those who like this book should definitely read Deloria's "The World We Used to Live In."

This is an important book, and a must-read I'd love to see in all American classrooms one day.

Tipi Sapa and Saswe were important figures in the history of the First People, and this book continues some of the important themes and history touched on in Bury My Heart.