Jonathan (John) Gneisenau Neihardt (1881-1973) was an American author of poetry and prose, an amateur historian and ethnographer, and a philosopher of the Great Plains. His attention was drawn to the experiences and memories of those who had been a part of the European migration as well as the American Indian cultures they displaced. He travelled down the Missouri River by open boat, visited with old trappers, became familiar with a number of Indian communities, and did extensive research throughout the Plains and Rocky Mountains. He then wrote to preserve these memories from the pioneer past in books that range across a broad variety of styles, from pleasant travelogue to epic poetry to extended narration of the dreams of a shaman. Neihardt had been writing poetry since the age of 12, he published his first book, The Divine Enchantment, at the age of 19. In 1921, the Nebraska Legislature elected him as the state's poet laureate, a title he held for fifty-two years until his death. His works include: The River and I (1901), Black Elk Speaks (1932) and A Cycle of the West (1949).