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    Dances with Wolves
    Dances with Wolves
    Dances with Wolves
    Audiobook9 hours

    Dances with Wolves

    Written by Michael Blake

    Narrated by George Guidall

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Ordered to hold an abandoned army post, John Dunbar found himself alone, beyond the edge of civilization. Thievery and survival soon forced him into the Indian camp, where he began a dangerous adventure that changed his life forever.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJan 11, 2019
    ISBN9781980029816
    Dances with Wolves
    Author

    Michael Blake

    Michael Blake is Professor and Head of the Anthropology Department at the University of British Columbia. He studies the archaeology of Mesoamerica and the Northwest Coast of Canada and is the author of Colonization, Warfare, and Exchange at the Postclassic Maya Site of Canajasté, Chiapas, Mexico (2010) and the editor of Pacific Latin America in Prehistory (1999). 

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    Reviews for Dances with Wolves

    4/5

    321 ratings20 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 5/5
      Absolutely wonderful. I loved the film and have seen it several times. The book has some differences which I liked very much. Just a great story. Always like George G’s narrations from the Longmire series and it was perfect here.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Absolutely incredible. Masterful storytelling. A door to a world that was taken away from us. This is how humans are meant to Live

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      So good. Worthy of many more reads and listens, just like the movie. Able to re-seen picking ul something new each time

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      OK novel about white man among Indians and adopting their culture. The movie is not bad too, but in the book it's Comanches not the Lakota or Sioux.
    • 3/5
      I have conflicting ideas about this novel. It is a fast, dramatic, and perhaps even provides a well intentioned perspective on how Native America has been treated. At the same time, this work is deeply problematic. While the entire work is a fantasy, I marvel at the arrogance at the heart of the novel--that a regular army solider would rise up in one season to become one of the most respected Comanche--a person on the same standing as shaman and chief. The ideas about assimilation are complex and the novel does more than the film, but this central premise of the novel is disturbing. To be more charitable, maybe the mass audience needed a white person to be the savior and to tell the story in order to make it interesting and relatable. For drawing attention to one of America's darkest histories, the novel does well--to imply that an average outsider can integrate and then lead the tribe is absurd. Can we imagine a novel where a Native American wonders into an American camp, and then in the matter of months is advising Washington and leading the war against the British? Very worth reading, but absolutely essential that the reader unpacks the message more deeply. I hope this is the entry point for others to learn the history of how Native America was cheated and plundered.
    • 5/5
      Wow, where to begin... I guess first I will say that I was very timid to read this book because usually when a person is in love with a film as much as I am in love with this book's film and then read the book after seeing said film they end up hating one or the other. However that was actually the complete opposite in this particular case. This book actually delved deeper into the amazing story crafted by the film and the two entities are nearly 100% true to each other. Only subtle changes separate the 2 stories. It's almost as if reading this book gives you a behind-the-scenes and more in-depth look at the character's thoughts, emotions and feelings that somehow makes you appreciate both the book and the movie even more! Although I had deeply wished that the ending portions of the film were simply a fabrication of Hollywood drama, I found out that they were actually from the book itself and at some points were much more horrific and heart wrenching than the movie actually shows. Nevertheless even with tears streaming down my face I can still honestly say that I absolutely loved reading this book and will keep it on my shelf to read again another day. I love this story wholeheartedly and will keep it safe for future generations of my family to read and enjoy. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone!
    • 4/5
      A book that was superior to the movie, but not by much.
    • 3/5
      This is a case of the movie being better than the book. The movie took liberties with the story that actually enhanced the written word. Additionally, the ending of the movie brought the relationship between Wind in his Hair and Dances with Wolves full circle...something the book lacked.

      Overall a good read...and I look forward to the Holy Road.
    • 3/5
      I read this when it was relatively new, and thought it quite good; not entirely a novel of "romantic savage"  mien, there being a healthy dose of reality in the milieu of the Indian tribes, but close enough.
    • 4/5
      Nach einigen traumatischen Erlebnissen erbittet der amerikanische Soldat Lieutenant John J. Dunbar im Jahr 1863 seine Versetzung zum abgelegensten Vorposten der Armee an der "Grenze des Wilden Westens". Als er dort ankommt, findet er das Fort verlassen vor. Durch eine Verkettung von Zufällen gerät seine Existenz innerhalb der Armee völlig in Vergessenheit, und so beginnt er ein einsames - aber einigermaßen zufriedenes - Leben im halb verfallenen Fort mitten in der Prärie. Bis einige Krieger aus einem Stamm der Comanchen, der sein Sommerlager nicht allzu weit vom Fort einfernt aufgeschlagen hat, ihn entdecken und aus Neugier auf diesen seltsamen Weißen immer wieder beim Fort auftauchen. Dunbar ist von diesen fremdartigen "Wilden" ebenso fasziniert wie sie von ihm, und so beginnt eine Annäherung, an dessen Ende der Soldat Lieutenant John J. Dunbar zu "Der-mit-dem-Wolf-tanzt" geworden ist.Michael Blake schildert diesen "Clash of Cultures" sehr sensibel - und nicht ohne Humor - aus beiden Perspektiven. Er versetzt seine Leser in die Gedankenwelt sowohl der Comanchen als auch des Soldaten und stellt die schrittweise Annäherung zwischen dem "Weißen" und den "Indianern" nachvollziehbar und ohne Kitsch und Klischees dar. Dabei schildert er die Szenerie (die unendliche Weite der Prärie, die trostlose Verkommenheit des verlassenen Forts, das majestätische Schauspiel der heranziehenden Büffelherde, die faszinierende Fremdheit des Stammeslebens der Ureinwohner...) so anschaulich und fast poetisch, dass man sie vor Augen sieht und tiefe Trauer empfindet, dass wir Menschen diese Welt für immer zerstört haben. Eine Geschichte ohne großen Spannungsbogen, aber so anrührend und schön erzählt, dass ich das Buch - einmal angefangen - nicht mehr aus der Hand legen wollte.
    • 5/5
      Blake covers an incredibly interesting era of US history that breaks traditional stereotypes. While this work centers on the relationships between Natives and the expansionist US Army during the Civil War, it doesn't fall into the general mold of a Western. It also gives a rich and diverse portrayal of the various tribes and American soldiers alike, leaving most stereotypes behind.

      A lesser important point - if you liked the movie, you'll enjoy the book.

      5/5 for diverse and complex characters, a strong yet surprising plot, and a unique take on US-Native relations of the 19th Century.

    • 5/5
      As I had seen (and fell completely in love with the storyline) the movie - I had a fairly good idea of what I was getting into by reading the book. However, there were small changes in various places -- include tow huge plot changes that made the novel a nearly fresh experience for me towards the end. In the final notes, the author noted that he wrote this more as a depiction of daily life among the Plains Indians, and less of a story about how an American Union soldier changed his manner of thinking and believing by living among a tribe of Indians. As such, the novel captured this sense of living in perfect coordination with the land and one's environment in a very deep way. There were times I felt I was nearly experiencing Shamanic trance states through the marvelous depictions in several passages. I cannot recommend this book highly enough -- even if you have seen the movie.
    • 5/5
      Excellent. It was slightly jarring at first because the film is narrated first person and the book is not, and I couldn't hear Dunbar's (Costner's) "voice" when I was reading. But it's a great story, beautifully told, and I didn't want it to end. There is a sequel out there, the second volume in an intended trilogy, The Holy Road. I'm a little afraid to try it for fear that I won't like it as much. Maybe I'll try the first chapter on Amazon or Barnes & Nobel. Anyway if you're a fan of the movie, give the book a try.
    • 4/5
      "He had geared himself for criminals, a gang of lawbreakers, burglars who needed punishing. What he found instead was a pageant, a pageant of action so breathtaking that, like a kid at his first big parade, the lieutenant was powerless to do anything but stand there and watch it go by."Lt. John Dunbar voyages west to take up a post at the western frontier, his life's ambition. Finding the fort deserted and himself the only white man within a week's travel, he sets about restoring the fort to appropriate standards and surveying the nearby lands. When he encounters the local Indian tribe, his diplomatic attempts are a little more open-minded than most soldiers of his time, and he slowly drawn into the Indian camp...The overall arc, the idea, is a strong and beautiful one, and Blake went out on a limb to write a book which is overwhelming positive about the Native American tribe (assumed to be Sioux), particularly in comparison to the US Army. The novel is gentle; the writing is not complex or particularly literary. The reader is lulled into the huge expanse of the plains, Dunbar's solitude at Ford Sedgewick, and equally the excitement of the buffalo hunt, the repeated attempts to steal Dunbar's beloved horse and the conflict with the Pawnee grips the reader. I found the book easy to keep reading but also quite easy to put down and pick up again.Faults? Lt. Dunbar is too good a man. It's too easy for him to move into the Comanche world - Kicking Bird comments on it very directly (I can't find the quote now). He never seemed to do anything selfish, foolish, or wrong. I felt this novel didn't really know what it was, and that feeling lingered throughout. Was it an Army v Indians frontier adventure? A romance (there was more than enough gentle romantic language for it to qualify)? A social commentary?The film made from this book (which originally started life as a speculative screenplay, which may explain the fairly simple style of writing) won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture (first Western film to win since 1931), Best Director and Best Sound. Sounds like I need to add that to my LoveFilm request list!
    • 5/5
      If you enjoyed the movie you will love the book. If you hated or were bored with the movie - try the book anyways, you might find yourself ABLE to sit through the movie now.It's good clean fun as Dunbar learns to survive totally on his own in a wilderness waiting for a relief unit that may or may not ever come.
    • 4/5
      Lt. John Dunbar is a rather appealing U .S. soldier sent to a mythical Fort Sedgewick west of Fort Hays, Kansas, in 1863. He arrives to find he is the only person there and settles down with his very likeable horse, meets Two Socks, a very likeable wolf, and Comanche indians, including a white womand who has lived with the Indians for long. Predictably Dunbar falls in love with the white woman and most of the Indians are noble. The book has a strong finish, which called to my mind Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson which I read Feb 23, 1946 and have never forgotten. There were some portions of the book which I found not very absorbing, but the strong finish saved the book and induces me to give it four stars.
    • 4/5
      This is a book of 313 pages. I read it in two days. I am a slow reader. This is a book I could not put down, or if I did I was constantly trying to get back to it.It tells the story of a young cavalry officer at the frontier in 1863 and his relationship with the Comanches.This book came out in 1988 and the film was relaeased in 1990. Michael Blake wrote both the screenplay and the novel.While the film was enjoyable I couldn't sit through it a second time. The book, however, is a totally different experience. I could read it again.
    • 5/5
      Dances With Wolves is a sweeping epic about one man’s journey, both external and internal, to find the place where he belongs. Set in the mid-1860’s the story of Lt. John Dunbar finding his path through Civil War battles, military postings and finally to the natural wonder of both the American prairies and the Comanche Indians is a wonderful read.I won’t go into plot details here as so many have seen the movie which follows the book closely. The author, Michael Blake studied Indian history for years before writing this book so his knowledge on their day to day life is extensive. Blake paints a vivid picture of the Comanche and certainly captured how the Indians lived in rhythm with nature.The arrival of the white people on the American prairies was a tragedy for the Indians. As the buffalo were slaughtered in their thousands, the mainstay of their life was stripped away. A way of life they had been following for thousands of years wiped out in less than 50. Their nomadic lifestyle was put to an end by farms and fences. This story foreshadows the sorrowful outcome of these events.I found this to be a powerful, stirring story, one that I would consider a classic of it’s genre. The movie based on this book with it’s stunning visuals is also a Classic Western, one not to be missed. I definitely recommend Dances With Wolves to anyone with an interest in the American West.Dances With Wolves is a sweeping epic about one man’s journey, both external and internal, to find the place where he belongs. Set in the mid-1860’s the story of Lt. John Dunbar finding his path through Civil War battles, military postings and finally to the natural wonder of both the American prairies and the Comanche Indians is a wonderful read.I won’t go into plot details here as so many have seen the movie which follows the book closely. The author, Michael Blake studied Indian history for years before writing this book so his knowledge on their day to day life is extensive. Blake paints a vivid picture of the Comanche and certainly captured how the Indians lived in rhythm with nature.The arrival of the white people on the American prairies was a tragedy for the Indians. As the buffalo were slaughtered in their thousands, the mainstay of their life was stripped away. A way of life they had been following for thousands of years wiped out in less than 50. Their nomadic lifestyle was put to an end by farms and fences. This story foreshadows the sorrowful outcome of these events.I found this to be a powerful, stirring story, one that I would consider a classic of it’s genre. The movie based on this book with it’s stunning visuals is also a Classic Western, one not to be missed. I definitely recommend Dances With Wolves to anyone with an interest in the American West.
    • 5/5
      I was so excited to find out that one of my all time favorite movies was a book. What a great novel and has become one of my favorites.
    • 5/5
      I read this book while aboard ship in 1991 on my way to the Persian Gulf War. Didn't watch the movie until early 1992. The movie deserves some credit but the book is by far of greater rank, station, and quality. It is simply superior.