John Gneisenau Neihardt

"This volume is a continuation of the autobiography of John G. Neihardt..."

This is the story of the Oglala Lakota visionary and healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863-1950) and his people during momentous twilight years of the nineteenth century. It is at once a tale of Lakota life, a history of a Native nation, and an enduring spiritual testament, wherein the author conveys Black Elk's searing visions of the unity of humanity and Earth. Black Elk met the author, a distinguished poet, writer, and critic in 1930 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and asked him to share his story with the world. This complete edition features a new introduction and annotations of Black Elk's story. Three essays by the author provide background, along with other pieces by contributors, as well as original illustrations by Standing Bear..

"When the Tree Flowered is John Neihardt's mature and reflective inter-pretation of the old Sioux way of life. He served as a translator of the Sioux past whose audience has proved not to be limited by space or time. Through his writings, Black Elk, Eagle Elk, and other old men who were of that last generation of Sioux to have participated in the old buffalo-hunting life and disorienting period of strife with the U.S. army found a literary voice. What they said chronicles a dramatic transition in the life of the Plains Indians; the record of their thoughts, interpreted by Neihardt, is a legacy preserved for the future. It transcends the specifics of this one tragic case of cultural misunderstanding and conflict and speaks to universal human concerns. It is a story worth contemplating both for itself and for the lessons it teaches all humanity."--Raymond J. DeMallie, editor of The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt.

A Cycle of the West rewards its readers with a sweeping saga of the American West and John G. Neihardt's exhilarating vision of frontier history. It is infused with wonder, nostalgia, and a keen appreciation of epic history.Unquestionably the masterpiece of the poet who has been called the "American Homer," A Cycle of the West celebrates the land and legends of the Old West in five narrative poems: The Song of Three Friends (1919), The Song of Hugh Glass (1915), The Song of Jed Smith (1941), The Song of the Indian Wars (1925), and The Song of the Messiah (1935). This unforgettable epic of discovery, conquest, courage, and tragedy speaks movingly and resoundingly of a unique American experience.