About the book
Copyright: 2014
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
ISBN-13: 978-0-8032-8391-6
424 pages
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Black Elk Speaks
Widely hailed as a spiritual classic, this inspirational and unfailingly powerful story reveals the life and
visions of the Lakota healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863–1950) and the tragic history of his Sioux people during
the epic closing decades of the Old West.
Black Elk met the distinguished poet, writer, and critic John G. Neihardt in 1930 on the Pine Ridge Reservation
in South Dakota and asked Neihardt to share his story with the world. Neihardt understood and conveyed Black Elk’s
experiences in this powerful and inspirational message for all humankind.
This complete edition features a new introduction by historian Philip J. Deloria and annotations of Black Elk’s story by
renowned Lakota scholar Raymond J. DeMallie. Three essays by John G. Neihardt provide background on this landmark work along
with pieces by Vine Deloria Jr., Raymond J. DeMallie, Alexis Petri, and Lori Utecht. Maps, original illustrations by Standing
Bear, and a set of appendixes rounds out the edition.
Source:
University of Nebraska Press
Praise for the novel:
“Black Elk Speaks is an extraordinarily human document—and beyond
that the record of a profoundly spiritual journey, the pilgrimage of a people toward their historical
fulfillment and culmination, toward the accomplishment of a worthy destiny.”
N. Scott Momaday
“If any great religious classic has emerged in [the twentieth] century or on this continent,
it must certainly be judged in the company of Black Elk Speaks”
from Vine Deloria Jr.’s foreword