The Night Watchman: A Novel

When Thomas thought of his father, peace stole across his chest and covered him like sunlight.

Conversely, if you should be of the conviction that we are powerless to change those dry words, let this book give you heart.

As Indians had for generation after generation, they were attempting to understand a white man reading endlessly from a sheaf of papers.

The services that the government provides to Indians might be likened to rent. The rent for use of the entire country of the United States.

How sad it was not to be sad.

And he knew thinking this far ahead was useless and ridiculous, but his mind had seized its own irrational path and would not be controlled by logic. He couldn’t argue himself into sleep.

the author of the proposal had constructed a cloud of lofty words around this bill—emancipation, freedom, equality, success—that disguised its truth: termination. Termination. Missing only the prefix. The ex.

Patrice had come to think that humans treated the concept of God, or Gizhe Manidoo, or the Holy Ghost, in a childish way. She was pretty sure that the rules and trappings of ritual had nothing to do with God, that they were ways for people to imagine they were doing things right in order to escape from punishment, or harm, like children.

Joseph Smith and the early Mormons had tried their best to murder all Indians in their path across the country, but in the end did not quite succeed. Arthur V. Watkins decided to use the power of his office to finish what the prophet had started. He didn’t even have to get his hands bloody.