By Raymond J. DeMallie

Warpath is a faithful retelling by Stanley Vestal ( Walter S. Camp-
bell) of the autobiography of Joseph White Bull ( 1849- 1947), a
chief of the Minneconjou Lakotas, one of the groups of Teton or
Western Sioux. The collaboration between Vestal--poet, novel-
ist, historian, professor of English--and White Bull--one of the
last surviving Lakota warriors--generated a personal narrative
that is graphic and direct, the unelaborated life story of a man
who prided himself on the exciting and glorious war deeds of his
youth. More than any other volume in the vast literature on the
Sioux, this one gives the reader an appreciation for the values of
plains Indian warfare in practice. ¹

All societies throughout the world are composed of individuals
of differing temperament and demeanor. Every culture is repre-
sented by both dreamers and doers, philosophers and practical
people--what anthropologist Paul Radin characterized as "the
thinker" and "the man of action." To the general public, Lakota
culture is perhaps best known through the life story of the Oglala
holy man-philosopher Black Elk, whose visions provide outsid-
ers with a tantalizing glimpse of another world of thought and
understanding. But no society is made up of dreamers alone; not
all Lakotas were philosophers. The life story of White Bull exem-
plifies the Lakota man of action and complements our under-
standing of the whole of Lakota culture. ²

Just as the collaboration between Black Elk, the visonary, and
John G. Neihardt, the mystic poet who told his story, brought
together two men of differing cultures but similar temperament,
so did that between White Bull and Vestal. Both had been trained
to fight in their youth, the one in the Indian wars, the other in

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