Night Watchman, The : Louise Erdrich

A Novel | Paperback | FICTION/Literary Thomas Wazhashk is the night watchman at the jewel-bearing plant, the first factory located near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. He is also a Chippewa Council member who is trying to understand the new “emancipation” bill on its way to the floor of the United States Congress. It is 1953, and he and the other council members know the bill isn’t about freedom—it’s a “termination” that threatens the rights of Native Americans to their land and their very identity. How can the government abandon treaties made in good faith with Native Americans? Since graduating from high school, Pixie Paranteau has insisted that everyone call her Patrice.