Black Elk Speaks is a 1932 book by John G. Neihardt, an American poet and writer, who relates the story and spirituality of Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux medicine man or shaman. It was based on conversations by Black Elk with the author and translated from Lakota into English by Black Elk's son, Ben Black Elk, who was present during the talks. Neihardt transformed his notes to convey Black Elk's spiritual message in a powerful, lyrical English.
The prominent psychologist Carl Jung read the book in the 1930s and urged its translation into German; in 1953, it was published as Ich Rufe Mein Volk (I Call My People). Reprinted in the US in 1961 and four later editions, the book has been widely read as part of a deepening appreciation within the United States for Native American voices, spirituality and issues. In 2008 the State University of New York Press published a premier edition with annotations by the Lakota scholar Raymond DeMallie.
Read more about Black Elk Speaks: Background, Publication Data, Academic Controversy, Ben Black Elk and The Second Life of The Oral Legacy