Joseph Marshall III / Biography

Joseph Marshall III






Biography

Joseph Marshall III was born and raised on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Because he was raised in a traditional native household by his maternal grandparents, his first language is Lakota. In that environment he also learned the ancient tradition of oral storytelling.

Joseph taught at the high school and university levels, and developed curriculum as well. Now he writes full time, having published six nonfiction works, and one novel, and was contributing author in four other publications; and has written several screenplays. Several of his books have been published in French, Hebrew, and Korean.

In addition Joseph has appeared in several television documentaries, served as technical advisor in movies, and had a role in a major television network movie. In 2005 he was a technical advisor and narrator for the Turner Network Television (TNT) and Dreamworks six-part mini-series Into the West, as well as playing the on-screen role of “Loved by the Buffalo.” He is also a practitioner of primitive Lakota archery, having learned from his maternal grandfather the art of hand crafting bows and arrows, and is also a specialist in wilderness survival.

One of his most treasured and meaningful experiences was to be one of the founders of Sinte Gleska University (1971) on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation. He is one of the Charter Board Members.

His sixth book, The Journey of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History (Viking Penguin) is a biography from the Lakota viewpoint of the greatest Lakota warrior, based primarily on oral accounts. It is now in its fifth hard cover printing. The book has been featured twice on the C-SPAN Book TV broadcast. The book which preceded it, The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons for Living (Viking Penguin, 2002), is now in its fifteenth printing.

In March of 2005 he released Quiet Thunder: The Wisdom of Crazy Horse, a six-part audio teaching series, and in May, How Not to Catch Fish: And Other Adventures of Iktomi, a children’s book. Also in 2005 he released Walking with Grandfather: The Wisdom of Lakota Elders, a book and audio CD combination, both of these works are from Sounds True Audio; and the unabridged audio version of The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons for Living was released by Blackstone Audio Books.

Five more books are due for release in 2007 and 2008. His eighth book, his third for Viking Penguin, entitled The Day the World Ended at Little Bighorn, is due out in May of 2007. Joseph’s second novel entitled Hundred in the Hand, based on the Fetterman Battle of 1866, will be released by Fulcrum Publishing, Inc. of Golden, CO. Two books are forthcoming from Sterling Publishing Company of New York, one is a book on leadership entitled The Power of Four: Crazy Horse on Leadership, and an ethnographic survey of the impact of the natural environment on native North American cultures, entitled To You We Shall Return, is due out in 2008. I Send My Voice: The Power of Lakota Prayer will be published by Sounds True, Inc. of Boulder, CO in 2008.

In the spring of 2005 the audio version of The Journey of Crazy Horse won the Audiofile Magazine Earphones Award. In June of 2004 the abridged audio version of The Lakota Way won the Audio Publishers Award (“Audie”) in the Best Spiritual/Inspirational Category. In November of 2003 it won Best Spoken Word from the Native American Music Awards (“Nammy”). In 2002 the hard cover print version was a finalist for the Creative Non-Fiction Award from PEN CENTER USA, and also in the Spiritual category for the Books for a Better Life Award from the Multiple Sclerosis Society of New York City. In 2000 he became a Fellow in the Sundance Institute States, the New York Open Center among them, and has also traveled to Sweden, France, and Siberia. He is currently associated with Tigrett Corp. of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania as a lecturer in leadership seminars, and has developed a leadership seminar based on the leadership lessons of Crazy Horse.