Scan barcode
A review by perilous1
Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux by Black Elk
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.)