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angelarwatts's review against another edition
5.0
This was an interesting book... It put so much in a heart-breaking perspective.... The Massacre at Wounded Knee.... It showed Black Elk's people, in a realistic and raw way...
I kept forgetting this book was published in 1932. So much of what Black Elk spoke.... is true for this day and age. And that is sad. I know there are people and movements going on today, trying to bring peoples together and show the Truth.... I pray Yahweh can help us as a nation.
Insightful book.
I kept forgetting this book was published in 1932. So much of what Black Elk spoke.... is true for this day and age. And that is sad. I know there are people and movements going on today, trying to bring peoples together and show the Truth.... I pray Yahweh can help us as a nation.
Insightful book.
tittypete's review against another edition
3.0
Black Elk had a lot of visions and spoke in an old-timey Indian way. He was around when the whites were grabbing up the black hills. It's of course kind of sad. There were some interesting bits about his buddy trying to kidnap or force-kiss his future wife and boiling and eating dogs. Also some scalping and chopping up of dudes. I thought the bit about he and his buds going to England and getting lost would make for a good movie. And interesting bunch of tangents from an interesting old-timey Indian dude. That's about it.
addiestanley's review against another edition
4.0
I love this book, but if you are going to read it for goodness' sake please read an annotated version so you know which bits are actually Black Elk speaking and which are Neihardt's surely well-meaning but occasionally utterly made-up embellishments.
perilous1's review against another edition
3.0
Hard to rate this, honestly.
To be sure, it's an invaluable piece of oral Native and American history--part disjointed memoir, part eye-witness testimony. But it only covers events up into Black Elk's late 20's... and leaves off with him sounding like a despairing, beaten old man. (Which gives a very inadequate picture of the fascinating man he became.)
The other hesitation I have with this work only occurred after I learned of the controversy behind the author (Neihardt's) approach. There's reason to believe he may have embellished parts of this--particularly aspects of the hallucinatory dream/vision Black Elk had as a child that set him on his path as a healer. (I understand accuracy sometimes succumbed to style in that era, but it doesn't sit well with me.)
To be sure, it's an invaluable piece of oral Native and American history--part disjointed memoir, part eye-witness testimony. But it only covers events up into Black Elk's late 20's... and leaves off with him sounding like a despairing, beaten old man. (Which gives a very inadequate picture of the fascinating man he became.)
The other hesitation I have with this work only occurred after I learned of the controversy behind the author (Neihardt's) approach. There's reason to believe he may have embellished parts of this--particularly aspects of the hallucinatory dream/vision Black Elk had as a child that set him on his path as a healer. (I understand accuracy sometimes succumbed to style in that era, but it doesn't sit well with me.)
pfaze's review
4.0
This is a very powerful story, one that will linger in my thoughts for some time.
scheu's review against another edition
4.0
Sad, but true. I can only imagine a world where the Ghost Dance succeeded.
ecs_etera's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of the most hauntingly beautiful things I have ever read.
fractaltexan's review against another edition
5.0
This book is an interesting look into the spiritual world of Black Elk, as well as a look at the history that occurred for the Lakota people during the latter half of the 19th Century. While this may offer a spiritual look, it's more one man's spiritual experiences which can give us some insight into the world of Lakota traditional Spirituality.
A great book!
A great book!
breenmachine's review against another edition
3.0
Heartbreaking story. "In sorrow I am sending a feeble voice, O Six Powers of the World. Hear me in my sorrow, for I may never call again. O make my people live!"
srbolton's review against another edition
4.0
A beautiful and lyric capture of oral history, and a heroic and tragic "other" perspective on the impact of American expansion.