In John G. Neihardt\u27s 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

Demallie, Raymond J

English

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University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
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Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 
1990 
Review of The Good Red Road: Passages into Native America. 
Raymond J. Demallie 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly 
 Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons 
Demallie, Raymond J., "Review of The Good Red Road: Passages into Native America." (1990). Great 
Plains Quarterly. 473. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/473 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an 
authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 
178 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1990 
The Good Red Road: Passages into Native Amer-
ica. By Kenneth Lincoln with Al Logan Sla-
gle. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987. 
Illustrations. xxiii + 271 pp. $17.95 cloth, 
$10.95 paper. 
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 har-
mony with the universe. In this book, the sym-
bol of the red road has been generalized to 
embrace all humanity, a deeply-felt psycholog-
ical sense of oneness and balance that serves as 
counterpoint to the frenetic lifestyle of modem 
America. 
The Good Red Road is the story of a quest 
undertaken in 1975 when Kenneth Lincoln, 
with a small group of students from UCLA-
one of whom was Al Logan Slagle-organized 
an on-the-road seminar based in Jamestown, 
North Dakota, to explore Indian America. All 
were Anglos with the exception of Slagle, a 
North Carolina Cherokee, whose quest, driven 
by the need to forge personal identity and to 
search for meaning in an Indian context beyond 
tribal boundaries, was more intense than the 
others'. 
Wide-eyed, eager, and trusting, Lincoln and 
his students traveled throughout the Dakotas, 
visiting the Sioux as well as the Turtle Moun-
tain Chippewa and the Three Affiliated Tribes 
at Fort Berthold. They lived on the reserva-
tions, observing, talking with people, studying, 
and writing. Beyond poverty and social prob-
lems they also discovered deeply held values of 
family, of relatedness, and of the sacredness of 
the red road. 
Lincoln characterizes the book as "autobio-
graphical ethnography" (p. xv), a reflexive ac-
count of the group experience not focused 
exclusively on the Indian people but exploring 
simultaneously their own responses as outsiders 
to American Indian cultures, aiming ultimately 
to achieve intercultural understanding, a dia-
logue across cultural boundaries. 
A substantial part of the book concerns 
Rosebud Reservation and incorporates, in re-
vised form, Slagle's master's thesis on the prac-
tice today of traditional Lakota religion, offering 
intimate glimpses of medicine men in the mod-
em world. Although this is not the usual type 
of descriptive ethnography, the authenticity of 
detail and the rightness of reported dialogue 
bring to life these people and their work with 
a vividness invariably lacking in more narrow 
scholarly analyses. 
Exceptionally well crafted, The Good Red 
Road makes engaging reading. The interrela-
tions among the various personalities that formed 
this group of vagabond scholars are sharply 
etched, and they come to represent in micro-
cosm the quest for personal identity that char-
acterizes contemporary America. The book is 
honest and direct, yet romantic and idealistic. 
To read it is to undertake along with its authors 
a journey that is as satisfying intellectually as it 
is emotionally and that rewards the reader with 
a sense of understanding the power and beauty 
of the red road, as well as its relevance to mod-
em life. 
RAYMOND J. DEMALLIE 
Department of Anthropology 
Indiana University 


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

DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 1990 Review of The Good Red Road: Passages into Native America. Raymond J. Demallie Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly  Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons Demallie, Raymond J., "Review of The Good Red Road: Passages into Native America." (1990). Great Plains Quarterly. 473. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/473 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 178 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1990 The Good Red Road: Passages into Native Amer-ica. By Kenneth Lincoln with Al Logan Sla-gle. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987. Illustrations. xxiii + 271 pp. $17.95 cloth, $10.95 paper. 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 har-mony with the universe. In this book, the sym-bol of the red road has been generalized to embrace all humanity, a deeply-felt psycholog-ical sense of oneness and balance that serves as counterpoint to the frenetic lifestyle of modem America. The Good Red Road is the story of a quest undertaken in 1975 when Kenneth Lincoln, with a small group of students from UCLA-one of whom was Al Logan Slagle-organized an on-the-road seminar based in Jamestown, North Dakota, to explore Indian America. All were Anglos with the exception of Slagle, a North Carolina Cherokee, whose quest, driven by the need to forge personal identity and to search for meaning in an Indian context beyond tribal boundaries, was more intense than the others'. Wide-eyed, eager, and trusting, Lincoln and his students traveled throughout the Dakotas, visiting the Sioux as well as the Turtle Moun-tain Chippewa and the Three Affiliated Tribes at Fort Berthold. They lived on the reserva-tions, observing, talking with people, studying, and writing. Beyond poverty and social prob-lems they also discovered deeply held values of family, of relatedness, and of the sacredness of the red road. Lincoln characterizes the book as "autobio-graphical ethnography" (p. xv), a reflexive ac-count of the group experience not focused exclusively on the Indian people but exploring simultaneously their own responses as outsiders to American Indian cultures, aiming ultimately to achieve intercultural understanding, a dia-logue across cultural boundaries. A substantial part of the book concerns Rosebud Reservation and incorporates, in re-vised form, Slagle's master's thesis on the prac-tice today of traditional Lakota religion, offering intimate glimpses of medicine men in the mod-em world. Although this is not the usual type of descriptive ethnography, the authenticity of detail and the rightness of reported dialogue bring to life these people and their work with a vividness invariably lacking in more narrow scholarly analyses. Exceptionally well crafted, The Good Red Road makes engaging reading. The interrela-tions among the various personalities that formed this group of vagabond scholars are sharply etched, and they come to represent in micro-cosm the quest for personal identity that char-acterizes contemporary America. The book is honest and direct, yet romantic and idealistic. To read it is to undertake along with its authors a journey that is as satisfying intellectually as it is emotionally and that rewards the reader with a sense of understanding the power and beauty of the red road, as well as its relevance to mod-em life. RAYMOND J. DEMALLIE Department of Anthropology Indiana University 

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