Customer Reviews

The Spirit of Black Hawk: A Mystery of Africans and Indians

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The Golden Age Is In Us by Alexander Cockburn, Verso

A nationally syndicated columnist, Cockburn has published a diary that is part commentary on political and social events, part a record of his personal life between August 1987 and November 1994. Many of the entries are snippets from his columns and his reporting and excerpts from interviews (sometimes with him as the subject of an interview, sometimes with him as the interviewer). Besides the writing that has already been published, there's also letters from friends and family with an occasional enemy writing in, plus some miscellaneous stuff such as Cockburn's plea of not guilty for speeding.

As his readers know, Cockburn is a funny, thoughtful, and observant writer. Despite covering many of the same events as mainstream journalists, such as the presidential conventions and the campaign trail, Cockburn's opinions on these and other topics remain outside the mainstream. This is partially because he is an Irish citizen living in the US, but more because of his left wing politics (he's a Marxist). He's no fan of Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Thatcher and Gorbachev and counts himself among the "imaginers of Utopias on hold." As many Americans celebrated the collapse of communism, Cockburn somberly reflects on the end of the Soviet Union, which he writes once acted as "a counterweight to US imperialism and the terminal savageries of the old European colonial powers."

While Cockburn laments the marginal political role leftists had during the late '80's and early 90's, the book shows that his opinions have some impact or are, at least, noticed. One day's column brings in next week's angry response. For example, in response to the many accusations of satanic child abuse brought against day care workers, Cockburn suggests that children be indicted for perjury when providing false testimony. Some lively correspondence follows. He also writes about the environment, JFK assassination conspiracy theorists (a letter is included from the director of JFK, Oliver Stone), the bicentennial celebration of the French Revolution, California's wild fires, political correctness, and the death of his mother.

When reading this book, one is reminded that a shrill tone of voice often characterizes the discourse of these issues. Cockburn avoids this shrillness and writes in a provocative, yet sane manner and with a strong sense of humor intact. None of the many topics Cockburn writes about are discussed exhaustively here and some readers might have preferred a book reprinting his columns from this time, not just the excerpts. It's less a attempt to be the final word on, say, the devastation of the Amazon rain forests than an attempt to evoke the era that made that devastation possible. It all works. For long time, this book will stand as a funny and interesting record of the events and controversies of the late 20th century.

This book portrays the Indian spirit Black Hawk as known to the Spiritualist Churches in New Orleans. Black Hawk is a 19th century Midwestern Indian warrior especially dear to the heart of African-American spiritual faith in the deep South. Black Hawk's following first blossomed in New Orleans sometime around the 1920s through the work of the spiritualist Leafy Anderson. The book has biographical material about both Black Hawk and Leafy Anderson and includes interesting material about several of the spiritualists who came after her and who still keep the tradition alive. The book tells of the way Black Hawk benefits the lives of those who call on him - "He'll fight your battles." - Jason Berry is a fine, sensitive writer. The photos are great, expecially the one of Big Chief Jolly of the Wild Tchoupitoulas taken at the time of Mardi Gras in 1979.

This is the only book I have been able to find on Black Hawk and the Spiritual Churches of New Orleans. The author takes you on a journey into the heart of New Orleans both with text and color photographs. The author really seems to know his stuff. I have enjoyed reading this book several times, each time learning something new. The author gives details of the spiritual church movement in New Orleans and throughout the African community. We read about the incorporation of Black Hawk, a powerful Inidan warrior is venerated and worked for the benefit of all, including usual shrines to the Black Hawk spirit. Highly reccomended!

This book was simply lovely, and the pictures were very evocative of the subject matter and beautiful to behold.

For those that may be looking at this book for information on actually working with Black Hawk, you will likely be disappointed as this is more a historical look at the figure of Black Hawk and about the churches and people that honor him mostly in the New Orleans area. All the information is very important for understanding the context in which these practices developed, and so is still very valuable for all spiritual workers who are curious about incorporating the veneration of Black Hawk into their path. But for actual how-to info, we will have to wait for Mama Starr from Old Style Conjure to release her book later in 2010. :)

However, I highly recommend this book for those wishing to learn more about the Spiritual Churches of New Orleans, and some of the very unique and fascinating traditions that took root in their houses of worship.

The Spirit of Black Hawk is a well written account of the history, traditions, and ceremonies surrounding this great Spirit. Especially interesting are the wonderful full-color photographs of the Spiritual Churches and Black Hawk in a Bucket. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the Spiritual Traditions of New Orleans and the practice of conjure.

Berry writes a first hand account of his experiences in the Spiritualist churches of New Orleans. Interesting read--Berry gives some historical context but does not delve greatly into historical issues as this could detract from his story. In fact, I believe his attempt is to chronicle the tradition from his perspective and that is what makes it interesting--this is not a scholarly, academic account. Berry's account does seem narrow in scope because he only details specifically his experiences with one church which makes it difficult for him to make substantiated conclusions.