Physician, activist, and author Charles Alexander Eastman was the first Native American certified in Western medicine and one of the first authors of any background to emphasize the Native American perspective. In The Soul of the Indian, he shares the customs, rituals, celebrations, and beliefs of Native American spirituality, and in so doing provides a powerful account of the "Great Mystery" at their core. For readers of the time, Eastman clarified how Native Americans conceptualized morality, mortality, civility, courage, and wisdom, and his chronicle remains powerful today because of its universal values. Eastman's ancestral faith blends poetry, prophecy, unwritten scriptures, and folklore in order to teach us, as he puts it, "to be thankful, to be united, and to love one another."

Revised edition: Previously published as The Soul of the Indian, this edition of The Soul of the Indian: An Interpretation (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.