Beginning of Essay
The book was written in the early 1930's by author John G. Neihardt, after interviewing the medicine man named Black Elk. Neihardt was already a published writer, and prior to this particular narrative he was at work publishing a collection of poems titled Cycle ....

Middle of Essay
.... name Black Elk. The youngest Black Elk soon experienced a vision as a young boy, a vision of the wisdom inherent in the earth that would direct him toward his true calling of being a wichasha wakon or holy man like his predecessors. Black Elk's childhood vision stayed with him throughout his life, and it offered him aid and wisdom whenever he sought it. It is from the strength of this vision, and the wisdom in his heart that Black Elk eventually realized his place as a leader and wise man in the Ogalala band of the Sioux. The wisdom possessed by Black Elk is immediately present in his recollections of various lessons learned by himself and by othe ....