Editors Reads Verdict
Erdrich's Pulitzer Prize winner and her most historically grounded novel — the termination legislation is a chapter of Native American history that has been almost completely erased from mainstream American consciousness, and the novel restores it with the fullness it deserves.
What We Loved
- The historical subject — the termination movement — is significant and little-known, and Erdrich handles it with both political clarity and human warmth
- Thomas Wazhashk (based on her grandfather) is one of her most fully realised protagonists
- Patrice's parallel story gives the novel a contemporary female voice that balances the historical male one
Minor Drawbacks
- The novel is long and occasionally digressive — not all the storylines carry equal weight
- Readers unfamiliar with Ojibwe/Chippewa history may need footnotes the novel does not provide
Key Takeaways
- → House Concurrent Resolution 108 proposed to end the federal relationship with Native American tribes — to 'terminate' their legal existence as nations. It failed partly because of organised resistance
- → The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa preserved their status through political action of exactly the kind Erdrich's grandfather led
- → Work — the grinding, unglamorous work of writing letters and making phone calls — is what political resistance actually looks like
| Author | Louise Erdrich |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Harper |
| Pages | 462 |
| Published | March 3, 2020 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Native American Fiction |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Best For | Readers of Erdrich's North Dakota novels who want her most historically grounded work, and anyone interested in Native American political history of the 20th century. |
The Watchman
Thomas Wazhashk works the night shift at the jewel bearing plant on the Turtle Mountain reservation in North Dakota. He is a tribal council chairman and a former boxer. He has been writing letters to Washington for years. In 1953, a congressman from Wyoming introduces a resolution that would, if passed, terminate federal recognition of more than a hundred Native American tribes — including the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. Thomas reads the text of the resolution and begins organising.
Erdrich’s grandfather Patrick Gourneau did exactly this. He was a tribal council chairman who led the resistance to the termination legislation, travelled to Washington to testify, and was part of the successful effort to keep the Turtle Mountain Band off the termination list. The Night Watchman is his story, transformed by fiction.
What Was at Stake
The termination policy of the 1950s is one of the most significant and least-remembered chapters of federal Native American policy: an attempt to end the federal relationship with Native tribes, distribute their assets to individual members, and absorb them into the general population. For the tribes that were terminated — including the Menominee and the Klamath — the results were catastrophic. Land was sold, communities fragmented, health and education services ended.
Thomas Wazhashk understands exactly what is at stake. The novel follows his organising work alongside Patrice Paranteau’s story — a young woman supporting her family who goes to Minneapolis in search of her missing sister and encounters the specific dangers that city life offers to young Native women alone and without resources.
Our rating: 4.4/5 — Erdrich’s Pulitzer winner: a historically important story told with all her characteristic warmth, mythological imagination, and political intelligence.
Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "The Night Watchman" about?
Based on the life of Erdrich's grandfather Patrick Gourneau, a Chippewa tribal council chairman who organised against House Concurrent Resolution 108 in 1953 — the legislation that would have terminated federal recognition of Native American tribes. Told alongside the story of Patrice, a young Turtle Mountain woman.
Who should read "The Night Watchman"?
Readers of Erdrich's North Dakota novels who want her most historically grounded work, and anyone interested in Native American political history of the 20th century.
What are the key takeaways from "The Night Watchman"?
House Concurrent Resolution 108 proposed to end the federal relationship with Native American tribes — to 'terminate' their legal existence as nations. It failed partly because of organised resistance The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa preserved their status through political action of exactly the kind Erdrich's grandfather led Work — the grinding, unglamorous work of writing letters and making phone calls — is what political resistance actually looks like
Is "The Night Watchman" worth reading?
Erdrich's Pulitzer Prize winner and her most historically grounded novel — the termination legislation is a chapter of Native American history that has been almost completely erased from mainstream American consciousness, and the novel restores it with the fullness it deserves.
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