Northshire Saratoga: John Sayles "To Save the Man"

Filmmaker, actor, novelist, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, and one of America’s greatest story tellers John Sayles will return to Northshire to celebrate his newest novel, which sheds light on an American tragedy: the Wounded Knee Massacre, and the cultural genocide experienced by the Native American children at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

"In To Save The Man, John Sayles has given us a harrowing story that not only deserves to be read but also reckoned with.” — Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls
“(Sayles’s) latest wrenching, masterful novel (is) a virtuosic performance by a gifted storyteller.” —Booklist, starred review

In the vein of Never Let Me Go and Killers of the Flower Moon, one of America’s greatest storytellers sheds light on an American tragedy: the Wounded Knee Massacre, and the cultural genocide experienced by the Native American children at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

In September of 1890, the academic year begins at the Carlisle School, a military-style boarding school for Indians in Pennsylvania, founded and run by Captain Richard Henry Pratt. Pratt considers himself a champion of Native Americans. His motto, “To save the man, we must K*ll the Indian,” is severely enforced in both classroom and dormitory: Speak only English, forget your own language and customs, learn to be white.

As the young students navigate surviving the school, they begin to hear rumors of a “ghost dance” amongst the tribes of the west—a ceremonial dance aimed at restoring the Native People to power, and running the invaders off their land. As the hope and promise of the ghost dance sweeps across the Great Plains, cynical newspapers seize upon the story to whip up panic among local whites. The US government responds by deploying troops onto lands that had been granted to the Indians. It is an act that seems certain to end in slaughter.

As news of these developments reaches Carlisle, each student, no matter what their tribe, must make a choice: to follow the white man’s path, or be true to their own way of life . . .

John Sayles is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, for Passion Fish and Lone Star. He has written eight novels, including Yellow Earth and JAMIE MACGILLIVRAY: The Renegade’s Journey, which was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice.

Event tickets include a coupon good for $5 off the purchase of To Save the Man when purchased at Northshire Bookstore's Saratoga Springs store on January 29.

If you have questions about this or any other Northshire Bookstore event please reach out to us at [email protected]. If the cost of tickets is a barrier for you, please e-mail to inquire about a scholarship.

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