precious jewels

Black Elk Speaks by Black Elk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Black Elk Speaks is several books in one.

On one hand, it is a personal history of man living within a society and culture under siege and risk of extinction by the self appointed heirs of the North American continent. Through the "words" of Black Elk, a Oglala Lakota medicine man, as written and felt by John G. Neihardt, a dedicated poet historian and mystic, we are able to see and feel what it was like being the last generation of a great and noble people to live in freedom in their homeland. We also experience, just a little, being the targets of a genocide both of our people and of our culture and environment. It is refreshing and sobering to be able to learn and feel a little of what it was like to be the victims of our European descended ancestors.

But Black Elk Speaks is also a philosophical and spiritual glimpse into the Great Vision that Black Elk was given as a child that defined his purpose for most of his life, and of his "brother" from outside his race and culture who was able to bond and translate more than just words, but a life and people's philosophy into a language we can experience and try to understand.

At times the book was beyond my grasp as a 21st century skeptical reader and thinker, but the story and meaning inside are precious jewels and we are lucky that they were captured for us before they were lost forever to our own peoples acts of genocide and destruction.

We discovered this author and book because of his connection to the University of Missouri, and of his influence on another excellent and loved author William Least-Heat Moon, the author of Blue Highways.

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