In reading this book on Black Elk Speaks I was overwhelmed. It seemed like the book was meant to land into my hands. When I began to read this novel, I understood. My feelings about vision quests, and soaring with the creators helpers has been an enlightenment to me for being here. I see things that I read in Black Elk Speaks and I understand. I understand what it is like to want to save the people and to have this heaviness come over you when they don't understand you. I have heard your message and I understand.

This book is the most powerful book I have ever read. Black Elk exudes a spiritual connection that is unparalleled. He also was a man of service. He speaks with a poetic sense of the world that has been killed by science, rationalism and money lust. If we could recover the spiritual sense, this indigenous way of being, that this man had the world would be rich. This book is better than the book "Black Elk Speaks" by Neihardt, because Demallie publishes the interviews verbatim (Neihardt's influence is limited), he provides many footnotes and writes a 100 page introduction and biography on Black Elk using material not contained in the interviews. Demallie also discusses issues that arise from what Black Elk says.

We knew "BLACK ELK speaks" for a long time, through John NEIHARDT's translation. Now, we get - at least - the full text and it's a real hapiness ! I compared the two texts, some days ago, for my Belgian students and discovered how Neihardt had betrayed the Old Man by cutting, interpreting and rewriting the original interview. This book is the most important publication in Native American spirituality for years; it presents, in the same time, a vivid Lakota experience of Little Big Horn battle and Wounded Knee massacre, without any reorganization. Read it.

I've read dozens of inspirational and self-help books, and still think that "Be All You Can Be" is a must for all who want to make their life worthwhile. John C. Maxwell is not trying to impress the reader with strange and unheard ideas. He is far from adverting any of controversial methods of "self-realization". In this book you will find sound Christian approach to success, combined with down-to-earth common sense and a heathy dose of humor. The author does not believe that there are shortcuts to releasing of our God-given potential, so those folks who are looking for quick-fixes could be disappointed. However, if you are serious and willing to put God's principles to work for you, this book will prove to be an outstanding tool of your personal transformation.

Over the years I have read many short stories, and one of the things that has led me to prefer the novel by no small margin over the short story is that so many short stories seem to say so little. They always ended before the story line and characters had developed into anything.

Today, I still prefer longer prose works, but reading this collection of stories by Vasily Shukshin was a revelation. Despite their brief length, the author manages to establish genuinely palpable characters and a sense of completeness and significance so often lacking in the short story. 'In the Autumn' and 'Styopka' are both remarkably poignant pieces. I highly recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys literature in any form.

Every year, Pope John Paul II selects a preacher for a course of Spiritual Exercises for himself and the Vatican's Roman Curia. For the Jubilee 2000, he chose Vietnamese Archbishop Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan.

I originally read Archbishop Thuan's exercises by way of Zenit - the News of Rome. As compelling as those accounts were, the book is even better. Archbishop Van Thuan's experiences, as a prisoner in Communist prisons for 13 years, and his insight on faith are true food for a hungry soul.

Testimony of Hope is the complete text of those Exercises. Archbishop Van Thuan's description of isolation and abandonment, and his secret for finding hope in despair makes for moving and uplifting reading.

I guarantee that readers will be moved by the 22 meditations. Archbishop Van Thuan offers light amidst the darkness. The book is a quick, easy, and inspirational read.