Review of The Good Red Road: Passages into Native America.

Authors

Raymond J. Demallie

Date of this Version

1990

Document Type

Article

Comments

Published in Great Plains Quarterly SUMMER 1990 .Copyright 1990 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska—Lincoln.

Abstract

In John G. Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks, the red road represents the path of life, of peace, and of the continuity of the generations. To many American Indians today it stands for the old, traditional ways, a state of being in harmony with the universe. In this book, the symbol of the red road has been generalized to embrace all humanity, a deeply-felt psychological sense of oneness and balance that serves as counterpoint to the frenetic lifestyle of modem America.