Ed McGaa, Eagle Man, Oglala Sioux, former Marine pilot and lawyer, now practices, speaks and writes about Native American religions. Appendices B and C give Lakota Sioux Words and Lakota Sioux Songs.

McGaa has fought for the return of the old traditions and traveled with some of the greatest Native holy people of the past. This book gives his overview (often very personal) of the ‘Natural Way’ – the Native American spiritual traditions and practices. Appendix A lists 100 questions developed over the years in a Humanities II college course. Each chapter answers groups of these religious and philosophical questions on topics like the nature of God – in Sioux, Wakan Tanka (the Great Spirit); good, evil, and the afterlife; miracles; matriarchy and patriarchy. I think it would be great for knowledgeable authorities of each religious tradition answer and discuss these 100 questions in the thoughtful way McGaa does here. He presents a comprehensive guide to living a life in harmony with God, with nature, and with other peoples.

In a voice both wise and outspoken, McGaa shares his wide-ranging knowledge as well as his first-hand experiences with respected Sioux spiritual leaders. He often questions the actions of our ‘dominant society’ and looks its ‘track record’. The history of lies, deceit, treachery and horrible actions against Native Americans by our country is old news, but it is heart-wrenching to hear them told by a Native American. Our country claimed freedom of religion but acted otherwise in dealing with Native Americans. Dominant society did all it could to abolish their religion. (For example, children were taken from their homes and made to attend Jesuit schools to be ‘reprogrammed’, with their religion outlawed.) Native American morality led them to expel liars from their tribes because honesty was an essential part of being in harmony with the Great Spirit. (We all know they trusted the dominant society to keep its word in treaties because our repeated deceit was inconceivable to them.) McGaa says the Aztecs’ and Incas’ sacrificial religions are not part of the Natural Way of our Native Americans, but the human sacrifices of the centuries of the Catholic Inquisition killed more people than the Aztecs and Incas combined. Those who sacrificed people were far from understanding God’s Spirit and the proper way of life. This book by Ed McGaa taught me much about the Natural Way – the harmony, rather than intolerance, that it encourages – there are valuable insights and lessons to be learned in other religions.