Winner of the Society of American Historians' Francis Parkman PrizeWinner of the PEN / Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for BiographyBest Biography of 2016; True West magazine Winner of the Western Writers of America 2017 Spur Award; Best Western BiographyFinalist; National Book Critics Circle Award for BiographyLong-listed for the Cundill History PrizeOne of the Best Books of 2016; The Boston GlobeThe epic life story of the Native American holy man who has inspired millions around the worldBlack Elk; the Native American holy man; is known to millions of readers around the world from his 1932 testimonial Black Elk Speaks. Adapted by the poet John G. Neihardt from a series of interviews with Black Elk and other elders at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota; Black Elk Speaks is one of the most widely read and admired works of American Indian literature. Cryptic and deeply personal; it has been read as a spiritual guide; a philosophical manifesto; and a text to be deconstructed―while the historical Black Elk has faded from view.In this sweeping book; Joe Jackson provides the definitive biographical account of a figure whose dramatic life converged with some of the most momentous events in the history of the American West. Born in an era of rising violence between the Sioux; white settlers; and U.S. government troops; Black Elk killed his first man at the Little Bighorn; witnessed the death of his second cousin Crazy Horse; and traveled to Europe with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. Upon his return; he was swept up in the traditionalist Ghost Dance movement and shaken by the Massacre at Wounded Knee. But Black Elk was not a warrior; instead accepting the path of a healer and holy man; motivated by a powerful prophetic vision that he struggled to understand. Although Black Elk embraced Catholicism in his later years; he continued to practice the old ways clandestinely and never refrained from seeking meaning in the visions that both haunted and inspired him.In Black Elk; Jackson has crafted a true American epic; restoring to its subject the richness of his times and gorgeously portraying a life of heroism and tragedy; adaptation and endurance; in an era of permanent crisis on the Great Plains.
#995743 in Books 2015-03-17 2015-03-17Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 7.98 x .93 x 5.16l; 1.00 #File Name: 0345804392480 pages
Review
65 of 66 people found the following review helpful. Eminently readable and refreshingly personal account.By Jim PalmerReading "The Ark Before Noah" makes you feel like you're in a comfortable armchair in a book-lined study. There's a brandy snifter in your hand; and you're listening to one of the most charming raconteurs you can imagine. He's spinning a yarn so compellingly and amusingly that; almost against your will; you're becoming interested in a topic about which you'd never before cared. The vast majority of humankind has no clue what cuneiform writing is. But the man in the comfy chair opposite yours; Dr. Irving Finkel; Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian Scripts at the British Museum; would like to change that.Ostensibly; this book is about a millennia-old slab of clay with some wedge-shaped writing on it and what it reveals: a Primordial Flood story unlike any other. As Finkel informs us; there are plenty of other Babylonian cuneiform tablets in the British Museum and elsewhere with bits and pieces of Flood narratives (twelve; if memory serves). But this one was unique. Not only does it give precise instructions and dimensions for building a giant round boat (surprising enough in and of itself); it also contained the phrase "the animals entered the ark two by two"--a phrasing not found in any other Babylonian Flood narratives; but one which DOES occur in the Hebrew Bible.Now; were this book only about this tablet; it would be fascinating enough. But "The Ark Before Noah" is much more than that. "The Ark Before Noah" is a love story; an account of the lifelong romance between Dr. Finkel and cuneiform writing.Not only is it the oldest form of human writing known of; it's also; as Dr. Finkel informs us; far and away the most fun--a cryptographical challenge for the nimblest of brains. Woven through the story of the Ark Tablet is a chatty; witty; humane; and at times very funny memoir of a life spent deciphering these baffling indentations in once-wet mud. It's also a marvelous introductory history to the discipline of Assyriology itself.But it goes beyond that. One of Dr. Finkel's many gifts is to be able to see behind the inscriptions; and recognize the very human people who made them. The millennia between us and them notwithstanding; they were; he points out; people precisely like us. They struggled with the same dilemmas; had the same worries and concerns; and felt the same emotions. And; using our shared humanity across the millennia as a point of departure; he asks some much larger questions about the Bible: who wrote it? When? Why? And why would its anonymous writers or compilers; forcibly exiled in Babylon; have included stories cribbed from their pagan oppressors in their own holy book?Dr. Finkel has pulled off a rare feat: a lucidly scholarly; readable; personal; and personable book about a subject which; in the hands of the wrong writer; would be as boring as watching paint dry--but which; in his telling; becomes mesmerizing.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Fascinating reading. I loved it!!By Frances E. BarrackAmazing book about the most ancient formation of the earth; which began events leading to the Biblical story of Noah's flood. This book shows how Noah's Ark could have been made using the same methods modern southern Iraqis use to make their coracles; actually making them from the tough reeds that grow in their swamps; and using a method whose beginnings have been long lost in the shadows of time. Our very Earth in her young years once held extremely powerful oceans moving swiftly across shallow pieces of land so that huge seas met and joined together with a speed and horrible fierceness unknown today. As these huge seas merged; their dense; heavy weight created vast hollows where the newly formed oceans began to put extreme pressure on the land under them. Then came a harsh ripping melee of sound; as even more water was torn from the very bowels of the Earth; herself. And on top of all this horrific noise and confusion merrily bobbed Noah's little craft; his Ark; which this writer thinks could have been made from the reeds that still grow in southern Iraq. Indeed; pictures are included which show that the writer and a crew did indeed build a rather large coracle;although much smaller than Noah's due to financial concerns; but it was quite large enough to prove the point that Noah's ark could have been made from those reeds and still been strong enough to hold a large number of rather large animals. I absolutely loved this book!! I found it so novel and exciting to read that I want to say; "Forgive me; Dr. Finkel; if I got it wrong above. But I loved your book so much that I will read it over and over until I can get it right in my sleep." Fascinating reading!!!0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Highly recommended.By Michael Settle"The Ark Before Noah" is one of the most important resources regarding the background underlying the Noahic flood story in the Bible. Irving Finkel is the one of the world's foremost experts in deciphering cuneiform. The book relates an ancient inscription which literally walked into the British Museum which FInkel translated. It turns out to be one of the most ancient flood tales ever discovered- written hundreds of years before the Genesis narrative.The most intriguing part of the book is when the author (who has read cuneiform inscriptions daily for the past 40 years) posits how the biblical material utilized and incorporated these older stories and traditions and in what circumstances they came be included in the Hebrew Scriptures.Despite the rigorous acadmic nature of the material; "The Ark Before Noah" is remarkably readable.Highly recommended.
