The World We Used to Live In

Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men

By: Vine Deloria Jr.

Narrated by: Wes Studi

Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

The world lost a courageous leader and a treasured friend with the passing of Vine Deloria Jr. He was, and is, one of the greatest spiritual thinkers of our time. Before his death, Deloria was reexamining native spirituality.

His years of collecting native stories of the medicine men and exploring spirituality from different perspectives are brought together in this audiobook. Although Deloria was annoyed and disapproving of the commercialization of native spirituality (sweat lodges conducted for $50, peyote meetings for $1,500, medicine drums for $300), he did not wish to chastise those finding solace in these pseudo rituals.

Instead, he wanted to open people's eyes to the rituals and ceremonies as they were originally intended to and stop the empty recitation of songs and blessings and bring meaning and spirit back to the sacred native rites. To do so, he explored the medicine men, their powers, and the Earth's relation to the cosmos.

©2006 Vine Deloria, Jr. (P)2019 Bobby Bridger

Excellent listen!

This book was more incredibly expansive in my appreciation of the First People, and their medicine with intense involvement in the spiritual! Made, no less outstanding by the narration of Wes Studi. A certain sense of reality is firmly established by the incredible reading! I would highly recommend this one!

All People Should Read

Really gives a good insight into many things and historical events. I feel all people would take something from this book.

My favorite book.

I've read this book at least 20 times and have now listened to it at least 20 more.
Love hearing the true stories of our tribes, healers and spiritual leaders.
Vine Delorias best book!

Felt as if I was there..

A good listen for anyone who wants to know more about indigenous people and their culture that seems by-gone now.

Arikara here

wonderful tones, great pauses. like listening to an uncle tell stories. Mr deloria is a good writer but the speaker was great also. nawah

very informative and I even grew up with much

I really enjoyed this audio and learned a great deal about other tribes ceremonies and traditions

A bird's eye view of Native American life.

I loved the stories, many of them quite amazing. Vine Depot is is a very deep writer, and his lack by sentences are not easily read by the narrator. It comes out rather ponderously. It is worth listening to gain a sense of wonder about the miraculous nature of native medicine people, although mostly men in this book.

So incredibly sad

Within the first 20-minutes the author states absurd positions with respect to evolution repeating debunked claims and leaving us with yet another rendition of spirituality as nonsensical superstition.

I believe this interpretation does a massive disservice to Native American traditions. It amounts to a “christionized”, superstition infused, retelling of what might instead have been a legitimate approach to the role we play in the universe. It is clear to me this man never understood nature, mankind, and the interplay between the two.

This will appeal to the airy-fairy Castanadians looking for super powers and lacking any real appreciation for our relationship to the ecosystems we inhabit. Missed opportunity.