Dances with Wolves is a 1988 novel written by Michael Blake. It was written as a possible source for a screenplay, and was later adapted by the author, and was produced as a film of the same name in 1990 by Kevin Costner, although there were many differences between the novel and film. The novel is set during the American Civil War.[1] The protagonist of the novel, Lt. John Dunbar, is a white man who ends up in the wilderness and comes to live with a tribe of kiowa, eventually taking on the name Dances with Wolves.