by Sayles, John
First published 2025
September 1890 brings a new academic year to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, where Captain Richard Henry Pratt enforces his brutal philosophy of forced assimilation. Native American students must abandon their languages, customs, and identities to survive the military-style boarding school that aims to "Kill the Indian, Save the Man." As they navigate daily humiliations and cultural erasure, disturbing news arrives from the western reservations. Desperate tribes have embraced the ghost dance, believing their frenzied rituals will resurrect the dead, restore the buffalo herds, and make white settlers vanish. White communities demand military intervention. When government troops kill the legendary Sitting Bull, using native police as their instruments, every Carlisle student confronts an agonizing question that will define their future. They must choose between the safety of compliance and the dangerous path toward reclaiming their true selves.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century, native-american
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, identity-crisis
Setting: Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Western Reservations
Period: September 1890
336 pages · Hardcover · Melville House
Content warnings: colonialism, racism