Sacred Clowns Summary
Tony Hillerman

Everything you need to understand or teach Sacred Clowns by Tony Hillerman.

Sacred Clowns Summary & Study Guide

Sacred Clowns Summary

Like Hillerman's earlier novels, Sacred Clowns explores the various conflicts between Navajo and white culture. Also like some of his earlier novels, the book highlights conflicts among various Indian cultures, exploring how people's cultural backgrounds form their views of the world.

One of the major themes concerns the different ways that whites and Navajos view justice. White culture draws on the Judeo-Christian tradition that views justice as fitting the...

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The Sacred Clowns Study Pack contains:

Sacred Clowns Short Guide

Characters

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Literary Precedents

Tony Hillerman Biographies (3)

Tony Hillerman

3,206 words, approx. 11 pages

Tony Hillerman "created the American Indian policier," according to critic Herbert Mitgang in the New York Times. Hillerman also "breaks out of the detective genre," as Daniel K. Muhlestein noted in t... Read more

Tony Hillerman

6,252 words, approx. 21 pages

“I tend to have two sorts of fans,” Tony Hillerman observed in a 1986 interview with Sue Bernell and Michaela Karni: “One kind are the mystery readers, who care more about plot. The oth... Read more

Tony Hillerman

4,464 words, approx. 15 pages

Tony Hillerman grew up during the Depression in the small, farming community of Sacred Heart, in Potawatomie, Oklahoma. His father's farm came without indoor plumbing, tractor, or electricity. The nea... Read more

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Sacred Clowns SummaryTony Hillerman