If you want to read a remarkable story about plains Indians in the death rattle of the pre-reservation life, this is the book. Full of mythic tales, detailed rituals, and commons stories of everyday life, Black Elk Speaks is a story that is not readily available elsewhere.
For my money on an primary source (for most of the book Black Elk speaks of events he witnessed, with occasion recollections of others mixed in) reading, this is your very best option. There are so many rich stories and details that you almost forget this is the recalling of facts. I attribute the detail and wandering nature to the Native American tradition of story telling that tends to weave in and out as the story goes along. Straight forward storytelling is not a keystone of their traditions and this is refreshing in our world of "just the facts ma'am"
Be ready to chant by the fireside with drums beating, and feel the autumn breeze over the Dakota plains as you read the captivating story of a man who has seen the world through such a different perspective
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