William D'Arcy McNickle (January 14, 1904 – October 10, 1977) (Salish Kootenai) was a writer, Native American activist, college professor and administrator, and anthropologist.

[7] After returning to the United States, McNickle moved to New York City (NYC) and took on several jobs, including positions at Encyclopaedia Britannica and the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography.

During this period, Collier encouraged the reorganization of self-government among the Native American tribes, and many began to assert greater autonomy for their peoples.

[10] McNickle also began to publish non-fiction works on Native American history, cultures, and governmental policies.

He was also active with other Native American organizations, as tribes began asserting their civil rights and working more closely together as an ethnic group.

It tells of Archilde León, a young half-Salish man who returns to the Flathead Indian Reservation and his parents' ranch.

At the end of the novel, he is wrongly accused of two murders (one committed by his mother) and surrenders to law enforcement in a scene referred to by the book's title.

This collection of sixteen stories demonstrates the range of McNickle's literary style, organized into three loose categories:[15] June 1961