In Before the Great Spirit Julian Rice explores the spiritual values that informed Sioux attitudes surrounding warriors, tricksters, spirits, games, and conflict. Countering the widespread myths that both denigrate and appropriate Indian spirituality, Rice examines accounts written in the 1830s by Congregationalist ministers Samuel and Gideon Pond and Stephen R. Riggs; Ella Deloria, a Yankton Nakota linguist; Wilson D. Wallis, a Canadian anthropologist; native Lakota George Bushotter; and physician James R. Walker in order to delineate clearly Sioux thought from the biases and perspectives of these observers.