Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good
Review: Like some of the other reviewers,I felt the most fascinating parts of the book were the firsthand accounts of historical events. The dreams were hard to follow or understand. I have a friend whose Dad owns a farm in Neb and he described how marijauna grew wild in the gullies and creekbanks. Kinda helps explain some of the horses turning into lighting bolts and warriors flying around as spears.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a very valuable read.
Review: Mari Sandoz both admired and modeled much of her work about the Plains Indians on the work of Neidhardt. Both worked on using the flow of the native language as opposed to a word for word translation, and both spent time with Indians, learning their culture and getting first hand information. They took advantage of what is no longer available to us, first person histories from those who actually lived the free life on the Plains. They also did more for native cultures than any white person before or since, by writing down this information for future generations. One thing I found enjoyable about Black Elk, and the Sandoz books is that while the Indians they spoke with took their religion and duties very seriously, they also had a great sense of humor, and didn'tt mind poking fun at themselves as well as whites. I found the story of the warriors who stopped to eat a buffalo during the battle of the Rosebud particularly humorous.
Rating:
Summary: To Gift To " The People"
Review: Most people recognize Black Elk's name if not his legend. From the time he was a small child he had the ability to hear and follow Tankashilah. Elder's of the Lakota people saw it in him and knew he would follow the path. As a child he was raised knowing all the ways, traditions and cultures of the Lakota. He also experienced that life being torn apart: every battle, every torture, every mutilation. All that was Sacred; gone. The People; gone.
After traveling with Buffalo Bill, in Europe, he returned and worked to heal the Lakota. To repair the Sacred Hoop, heal The Tree of Life, these were his goals. He never felt that he suceeded.
In the end, Black Elk dictated this book with the help of relatives who translated, the author, and members of his family. It was Black Elk's last and perhaps greatest gift to the extented family, All The People: The Red, The Yellow, The Black, The White.
If you want to understand the traditions this is a starting point. A must have. It's well written, clear and profound. And, if you've read it well, don't be suprised if it should prove life changing.
Rating:
Summary: We should pay attention to Black Elk's vision and wisdom
Review: My gut feeling is that at the height of our folly we have been killing the goose that lays the golden egg - in this case killing off those with the vision and wisdom to get us out of our present predicament. Solomon, when given the opportunity to choose anything he wanted, asked for wisdom - wisdom alone. But with that gift he became the wealthiest man of his era and everything else was given to him. We also lack vision and Proverbs tells us that a nation without vision shall perish. Today our shortcoming is that we lack vision and wisdom and what is more we are so ignorant that we don't even suspect that we lack vision and wisdom. And in that ignorance and the greed, arrogance and contempt that it generates we have almost destroyed the last remaining semblance of a people who had the vision and wisdom that the wise would have traveled the earth to receive. Fortunately, we have this book and through these most wonderful writings the wise of today can tap into the vision and wisdom.Humans have two natures - the materialistic and the spiritual. In the west today our materialistic side has grown big and bloated while our spiritual side has shrunk to an almost imperceptible size through non-use. Black Elk was a person where the materialistic and the spiritual were in balance. We, too, can regain that balance if we are willing to listen to Black Elk. As the back cover tells us this book was named one of the ten best spiritual books of the 20th century, I am not alone in thinking that this is a good book to read, study, absorb and implement - but only if we are wise enough to understand that, of course. Black Elk had visions of the unity of humanity and the author tells us of his first visit in August 1930: "It was not of worldly matters that he spoke most, but of things he deemed holy and of 'the darkness of men's eyes'" and that "from early youth he had lived in and for a world of higher values than those of food and shelter, and his years had been one long, passionate devotion to those values as he conceived them" and that Black Elk had said "As I sit here, I can feel in this man beside me a strong desire to know the things of the Other World. He has been sent to learn what I know, and I will teach him." At this point I could not help but think that the author and Black Elk were both exceptional people. How is it that a near-blind man could feel the author's goodness radiating out? Having arrived at noon and with the sun now setting, Black Elk said: "There is so much to teach you. What I know was given to me for men and it is true and beautiful. Soon I shall be under the grass and it will be lost. You were sent to save it, and you must come back so that I can teach you." Neilhard returned the following spring and listened to the old man talk because he wanted this great vision to be saved for you and me. The author then faced the difficult task - and the sacred obligation - to re-create for us in mood and manner the old man's narrative. Stephen Covey tells us to imagine that I have just died and people are gathered together to talk about me, reflect on my life and provide ideas of what might be written on my tombstone. What, in a few words, would do I want a visitor 100 years from now, to know about me? I think that I would be content if my gravestone said: "Here lies a man who lived the vision and wisdom of Black Elk in his every thought, word and deed."
Rating: 
Summary: A fantastic historical account
Review: Neinhardt's book, taken from the dialogue of Black Elk and others, is perhaps the closest thing to a Native American classic in Literature. Somehow a previously (relatively) unrecorded culture comes alive in this first-hand account of the Lakota life before and after the fight for the Black Hills. Absolutely invaluable.
Rating:
Summary: Nice historical piece
Review: Not much to add to the other reviews. This is an excellent account of the shameful whiteman's extinction of the most beautiful people to inhabit the earth (I am white :) Did you know that at one time, the American Indians were 1/5 or 20% of the world's population. They lived in virtual peace for 10,000 years, with minor skirmishes, never genocide. There was trade from the tip of South America all the way to Maine. It is the biggest extinction in recorded history. This book is an account of a great leader seeing his people being destroyed. A great book.
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Summary: A tale of determination and deicide....
Review: Perhaps THE book on the shaman caught between the ecstacy of his visions and the tragic world in which they find no fulfillment. And although narrated by a white person, a historically valid account of the persecution of an entire people.
Rating:
Summary: An Amazing and Touching Book
Review: Read the soothing words of Black Elk. They are worth your while.
Rating:
Summary: The true life story of a Native American medicine man
Review: The book is an easy read, however, slow at times. Rituals and visions are told in full and complete detail. It gives a great insight to the people and the traditions destroyed by the American governmnent. Superb book.
Rating:
Summary: This is a biography instead of a book on Sioux Spirituality
Review: This book is a biography of the famous Sioux holy man Nick Black Elk. It tells of young Black Elk's powerful vision. This is one of the few books to place the colors in the proper directions. This is not a blanket statement that everything in this book is correct. I noticed two errors. 1. The word Oglala is misspelled throughout the book 2. The photo on page 282. I have seen this photo in other sources, and the indian standing to the left of Nick Black Elk was called by another name. If you want a biography of the famous holy man this is an excelent book. If you want a book on American Indian Spirituality go elsewhere. "The Sacred Pipe" Joseph Epes Brown "Foolscrow: Wisdom and Power" Thomas E. Mails "Native Wisdom" Ed McGaa "Mother Earth Spirituality" Ed McGaa Please contact me if you have questions or comments. Two Bears Wah doh Ogedoda "We give thanks Great Spirit"
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