Little Man, Old Man: ...four piles of rocks (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798353206507)

Little Man, Old Man explores the spiritual relationship between a young Lakota and a tribal elder who assumes the role of of parent-guardian when the youth is orphaned at an early age. Despite over sixty years difference in their ages, the young Lakota and the elder share a deep bond that transcends that disparity. Attendance at a reservation mission school teaches Little Man the history of the white man, but the Old Man keeps alive for him the history of the Oglala Lakota.
This, then, is the story of Little Eagle and Walking Bear. Little Eagle struggles with the dichotomy of the history being taught at the mission school opposed to what he learns from Walking Bear. He questions whether he can be a proud Lakota, yet also be a loyal American. His academic studies of the history of the world reveal the constant conquest for supremacy by all cultures since the beginning of man. His teachers at the mission school recognize the exceptional depth of their young charge and somewhat secretly provide books for his independent study that explore much of the dark history of mankind.
In 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese naval forces, Little Eagle and several schoolmates volunteer to serve in the U.S. Army. In their basic training, they are identified as potential candidates for a special communications program. The very language they were forbidden to speak at the reservation school - discouraged from speaking at all - became the basis for battlefield communications that would defy interpretation by the enemy. The languages spoken by the American Indians were only spoken - never written - and thus were impossible for the enemy too break. The American Indian Code Talkers provided an amazingly effective communications tool that was an invaluable contribution to the ultimate victory of the U.S. forces in World War II.
Little Man, Old Man is the fictional exploration of their relationship and chronicles the life of an amazing young Lakota in the changing life on the prairies of South Dakota.

Author: Dan Berdahl
ISBN-10: 8353206501
ISBN-13: 9798353206507
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 09/30/2022
Pages: 414
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.33lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.92d