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Summary: A Person's Vision is His/Her Own
Review: A person's vision is his own; it is meant for him alone. You cannot live another person's dream. Black Elk's vision was for Black Elk; you must live your own dream. People keep trying to interpret Black Elk's dream, but they do not understand the colors or the realms he was in. I agree with the reviewer who is frustrated by Native American books "told to" Non-Indian intermediaries.Times have changed. Indians are educated enough to write their own histories and personal accounts. The discriminating book buyer of Native American books should consider the author's background before buying and absorbing the book. Did the author grow up on the reservation? Did he eat commodity cheese and chopped meat? Is he a traditional person, for instance, does he pow wow dance, or participate in the sweat lodge or sundance, or partake of any of the ceremonies belonging to his tribe? You would want a woman to teach Women's Studies. You would want a Black person to teach Black History. You would want a Vietnam Vet to discuss Vietnam. Doesn't it follow, in fairness, that a Native American author should generate a Native American book? Respectfully submitted, JMW
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Summary: Looking for our soul
Review: Black Elk forces us to contend with issues that those with a purely materialist perspective tend to miss - ethics. Primarily, the first thing that strikes me about Black Elk in Black Elk Speaks is how close he was to the inhumanity of the objectification process and the relegation to the status of "Other." Was Neihardt guilty of romanticizing the story of Black Elk - chances are pretty good that he may have picked and chosen what was put on (effectively meaning what he also chose to leave out) but it does not detract from the main point - Black Elk makes me question the very core of my existence - am I really THAT guilty or do I have options, and does the materialist allow room for this form of deliberation. Interestingly enough, this brings me to my second point about Black Elk - he questions the notion of white man's progress and civilization being really that at all. By using his story and the story of his people falling prey to a dominant discourse whose interest lies solely in the "yellow metal" and wantonly killing the Bison - makes you wonder how far we have really gone. I have to admit, by bringing up all these issues - Neihardt is somewhat guilty of playing up the noble savage and the descriptions (despite the anti-romantic brutality) is still somewhat close to Eden. Cognizant of that, we read on with one thing in mind - this alternative world view of a people with an intuitive sense of the earth's carrying capacity might be closer to an environmentally stable strategy that would satisfy the most staunch materialist. Turning to a topic that is perhaps more political in nature is the destabilizing effect of the reserve system. He forces us to contend with the issue that the Wasichus came and placed them in "little islands" - that more ironically kept getting smaller. What was really being disrupted was the symbolic infrastructure concerning the circle - the source of all life. Crazy for the yellow metal and ready to perpetuate wholesale slaughter on the Bison - the Lakota were the next logical progression into this descent into the realm of the material - it was science without soul. Science, it is argued here, is essential - but at what price. Do we really need to resort to the objectification of what we fear because we do not understand it. So hardened was he by the horrors of war and the pathological dependence that the reserve system put in place, Black Elk decides he will travel the world to see if he can find a solution to this wanton destruction.
What is also clear is that Black Elk sees the atomizing of man. Concerned solely with oneself and the acquisition of the more - the community system suffers. We are left deliberating things such as world views - is this an issue of the Judeo/Christian tenet that man has dominion over all nature and Descartes' notion that man is the master and proprietor of nature versus the intuitive man within nature as Black Elk sees very little distinction between the four and the two legged. Is he really more tied to nature and what impact does that have on our psyche. The book closes out with the sense of cultural genocide. The outlawed Ghost Dance and the massacre at Wounded Knee leaves one aghast at how such a sophisticate society can so callously and wantonly destroy one so similar. When Black Elk speaks, he is suddenly no longer a subaltern - he is no longer silent - a double meaning of sorts. However, in the medicalized world of a science without soul we continue to question if he was simply full or it or mentally unstable. Perhaps the Romantic movement did have a point when it cautioned us about a science without soul and the need to reflect on the awe and majesty of nature. Perhaps there is something to the notion of a "mother earth" as opposed to an "father almighty." To the cold hearted, I pose the question: Can we glean something form his message and allow ourselves to be fully human? Miguel Llora
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Summary: Begin your path on the Red Road here.
Review: Black Elk is as visionary as Christ, Moses and Buddah. His story presented within the simple bounds of this book goes further than just the literary meaning. Throughout, the reader is always encouraged to search within, turn their eyes to themselves and listen to the spirit cradled there. He (Black Elk) has taught me to listen to my spirit. I hope anyone who reads this book does as much.
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Summary: Valuable Biographical and Historical Document
Review: Black Elk of the Ogallala Sioux (or Lakota, their real name) led quite an important life among his people. He was present at Custer's Last Stand and the Wounded Knee Massacre, and even toured Europe with Buffalo Bill. John G. Neihardt has given us this very important life story as told by Black Elk himself. The saga of Black Elk and his people during their final years of freedom is very important from a biographical and historical standpoint. Contrary to popular opinion, this book is not really a treatise on Native American religion, as it is only Black Elk's personal story, though there is much valuable material on spirituality as he saw it. His many messianic visions are described in great detail. These would be looked on by Westerners as fever-induced dreams, but they still had great significance in Black Elk's life and the fate of his people. Also interesting are his tales of working as a medicine man and curing sick people. Instead of dismissing such tales, we should look on them as great examples of the power of positive thinking, not to mention homeopathic remedies. There has always been some concern about how much Neihardt altered the story to fit Western writing methods, with possible losses to Black Elk's true narrative. But one of the great modern Native American activists, Vine Deloria, gives his endorsement in the new introduction. While not quite the compendium of spiritual knowledge that many people think it is, this is still an extremely valuable and enlightening life story of a man who has much to teach us.
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Summary: Excellent Primary Source
Review: Black Elk's account of the life of the plains indians at the close of the 19th Century is an excellent first hand account of how the United States forced change on the Native Americans and how they struggled to find a way to save their culture in the face of such a radically different and sometimes violent opposing philosophy. Through out the story, Black Elk indicates a level of sadness at being forced into violent confrontation and forced moves around the upper midwest and into Canada. As he puts it in, all they wanted to do was to live in the land that was theirs and it was no longer theirs. His accounts of how the United States routinely violated treaties that were forced on the Native Americans is also a source of the sadness that pervades his account. In addition to providing a great accounting of the injustices that were committed by the United States, Black Elk also gives an excellent insiders view to the culture of the Lakota. The use of visions, sweatlodges, and dances as a way of promoting their nations is recounted in great detail and provides real insight into how this tribe lived prior to being forced onto a reservation. The writing of Black Elk speaks is also well done. It is not dumbed down, but at the same time, it was not written over the head of the average reader. There are some instances where going to the appendix to find a good meaning for some of the native words included in the text is helpful, but this is not in the least bit distracting to the readers. If you are looking for an excellent first hand account of the close of the 19th century and the US treatment of Native Americans, look no further than this.
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Summary: Life story of an Ogalala holy man from peacetime to genocide
Review: Black Elk's life story, as told to John Neihardt, has become a Native American bible. It follows his life from young boy in peacetime to young adult during the genocide by American settlers. It is a somewhat slow read, as Black Elk's visions are explained in great detail, but is an absolute classic. A definite must-read for anyone wishing to understand Native American life or for any white person to understand the cultures and civilizations the US destroyed
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Summary: No man is an island
Review: Black Elk's poetic self-disclosure, revealed through an ame fraternelle, Indians/Native Americans-intoxicated writer John Neihardt, towers highly over "spiritual" claptrap polluting our age. When I compare this confession to truly good books, like Yogananda's or Sogyal Rinpoche's bestselling presentations of the Advaita or Vajrayana Thanatology, or, even to that great book of wisdom, Jung's autobiography ( Memories, Dreams and Reflections )- they all are dwarfed when put alongside the fierce narrative of starvation, death, suffering, elation, visions, life's grandeur and God's betrayals. Average materialist or fundamentalist ( Christian, Muslim,..) will easily dismiss Black Elk as just another religious hysteric or devil's servant. Various "Native American activists" will use ( and are using it, intermittently ) as a political weapon. They are using it as a sort of codified scripture in "back to roots" religious ceremonies. I don't blame them. But: "Black Elk Speaks" is much, much more. 1. It is relegated to, for us, Europeans ( I am a Croat, therefore a "white European" ), a "spiritual literature" category. Good. Just, as a rendition of a natural man's ( and St. Augustine was a natural man, make no mistake about it ) harrowing struggle between forces & pressures of inner and outer cosmos, between trembling hope, faith and a sense of inescapable fatum- this is unsurpassed work, a worthy companion to Whitman's or Tolstoy's, St. Augustine's or Omar Hayyam's masterpieces. 2. For any non-dogmatic reflective man the Jack Wilson/Wanekia's story and ghost-dance catastrophe at Wounded Knee present an especially painful read; a much stronger expression of God's betrayal than the famed 89.th Psalm. I don't see how usual excuses ( karma, gnostic mythologies, false prophecy, ..) could work convincingly here. 3. At the end: read it. You won't find dull self-centredness that wrecks most of the contemporary prose. Nor pettiness of an alienated vacuous "seeker after ( his ) precious salvation". Here, you are offered banquet for the soul: harsh, harrowing life's realities; revelation of Unity of all beings; physical, moral, and emotional travails; ordinary life as a pattern in earthly-divine tapestry; and, finally, tragedy transmuted into, if not a triumph, then a humble acceptance, a resignation to the eternal life that *cannot* be completely known. "...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
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Summary: My Review:By Lobo Di Noccento
Review: First of all let me start by saying that there has never been a book like this before for me this book not only held my interest it kept my interest as well; This was a book that i think anyone would truly enjoy; The book uses both a family account as to what it was to the writer to grow-up native american; As well as, the fact that the writer all-so takes the time to talk of historical accounts that are very well documented and, directly related to his tribes and, the way they were treated are mentioned in this book; In addition there is all-so mention of some of the most intriguing tribal stories I know I have ever heard well; I hope that there are many people who read this book cause it is a great one sincerely Lobo Di Noccento
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Summary: the rest of his life
Review: Great book, but to learn much more about Black Elks life, read "Black Elk - Holy Man of the Oglala" by Michael F. Steltenkamp. It covers the last fifty years of his life, and will give you a different perspective of "Black Elk Speaks".
Rating: 
Summary: white person speaks for native american - AGAIN
Review: how can you suggest this book when the ending is the author's rather than black elk's words? this is another example of white people speaking FOR native americans. at the very least it misrepresents a great man's words and puts them in a white person's context. can we not get beyond writing for europeans?
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