Lonesome DreamerAmerican poet and writer John G. Neihardt (18811973) possessed an inquiring and spiritual mind. Those qualities came to the fore in Black Elk Speaks, the story of the Lakota holy man Black Elk, for which he is best remembered. Over the course of thirty years he also wrote a five volume epic poem, A Cycle of the West, which told the story of the settlement of the American West. Despite Neihardts widespread name recognition, the success of Black Elk