He turned on the Prescotts for the most ordinary and self-interested of reasons: he understood that they were going down, and he did not wish to go down with them, and testifying was his best available deal.

And for a while, that bothered me, because it meant the good outcome had come from an ignoble source, and I wanted my justice pure.

But I have come to believe that wanting justice to be pure is a kind of luxury that the people who most need justice cannot afford.

The four farm families who got their land back did not get it back because a hero rode in.

They got it back because a coward calculated correctly.