In the last months before leaving to join the Ancestors, Russell Means felt the need to record in permanent written form many of the beliefs and traditions that he was taught as a boy and as a young leader of the American Indian Movement. Russell believed that this knowledge was in danger of being lost forever. His teachers were Traditional Indians, many of whom were born in the 19th century. These Elders were born into a different time and world, when traditional Lakotah freedoms and complete sovereignty were a personal memory for many. Co-written by Bayard Johnson (author of "Damned...