ROLLING THUNDER: A Personal Exploration Into the Secret Healing Powers of an American Indian Medicine Man

by Doug Boyd ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 7, 1974

The title is somewhat misleading, for this is less a Castaneda-type adventure in medicine man tricks than an account of what it was like for a researcher in the Voluntary Controls Program of the Menninger Foundation (which studies biofeedback, yoga and psychic healing) to spend a number of months with a Shoshone medicine man. During the course of the association, Rolling Thunder showed both healing and psychokinetic powers, but most of his work was on a more mundane level -- conferences and meetings to force the government to honor treaties it was constantly violating (particularly re the cutting down of pinyon trees), herb-gathering and simple meditation. His philosophy, as seen in action rather than articulated, has great similarity to eastern religions -- in which the earth is perceived as an organism whose natural flow technological man is disrupting, to disastrous effect. Unfortunately, the author is deficient in his interviewing reportage, but then, his purpose is not to proselytize, but to bear testimony -- in the same way that Rolling Thunder ministers, not for the sake of the medical journals, but for the sick person who is ready to be healed.

Pub Date: Jan. 7, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION