Status
Available
Genres
Publication
New York : Doubleday, [2016]
Description
Presents a true account of the early twentieth-century murders of dozens of wealthy Osage and law-enforcement officials, citing the contributions and missteps of a fledgling FBI that eventually uncovered one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances. In this last remnant of the Wild West--where oilmen like J.P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes like Al Spencer, the "Phantom Terror," roamed--many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll climbed to more than twenty-four, the FBI took up the case. It was one of the organization's first major homicide investigations and the bureau badly bungled the case. In desperation, the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only American Indian agents in the bureau. The agents infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.… (more)
Media reviews
De maand van de bloemendoder is een fascinerend en tegelijkertijd gruwelijk boek over de moordpartijen, discriminatie en uitbuiting van Osage indianen aan het begin van de 20e eeuw in Oklahoma. Nadat de Osage, zoals zoveel indianen in de Verenigde Staten, waren verjaagd naar een reservaat in Oklahoma, bleek hier olie gevonden te worden. Hierdoor werden de Osage opeens rijk. Echter dit betekende ook uitbuiting, discriminatie en vele moordpartijen. David Grann is jarenlang bezig geweest met onderzoek naar misstanden die plaatsvonden en De maand van de bloemendoder is het zeer boeiende eindresultaat hiervan...lees verder >
User reviews
LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl
After oil is discovered under the Osage reservation in Oklahoma, the Osage became wealthy leasing the drilling rights. But along with the wealth came people eager to exploit the Osage and government policies that prevented many Osage from controlling their own money. And then people began to be murdered. The local authorities were paid off. The Osage were living in fear. Into this came the newly expanded FBI, now under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover.
There's a lot going on in Killers of the Flower Moon and David Grann writes the events like a thriller. There's no question as to why this has been such a popular book. Grann does a good job of untangling a complex set of issues as well as a complex criminal case. He also centers the story with the Osage people themselves, spending time showing who some of the affected Osage were as people, as well as drawing a shocking picture of how the American government and racism worked together to keep the Osage from controlling their own lives and allowing for them to be exploited. I would have liked more on that than on the adventures of the FBI agents who came in to save the day, but I suspect that many would have liked more adventure and less about the details of Osage life in the 1920s. Grann did a good job striking that balance, and in writing a fast-paced and exciting account about a facet of American history that few people today know about.… (more)
There's a lot going on in Killers of the Flower Moon and David Grann writes the events like a thriller. There's no question as to why this has been such a popular book. Grann does a good job of untangling a complex set of issues as well as a complex criminal case. He also centers the story with the Osage people themselves, spending time showing who some of the affected Osage were as people, as well as drawing a shocking picture of how the American government and racism worked together to keep the Osage from controlling their own lives and allowing for them to be exploited. I would have liked more on that than on the adventures of the FBI agents who came in to save the day, but I suspect that many would have liked more adventure and less about the details of Osage life in the 1920s. Grann did a good job striking that balance, and in writing a fast-paced and exciting account about a facet of American history that few people today know about.… (more)
LibraryThing member whitreidtan
I can be an annoyance in my book club. I've read a lot and have strong opinions about whether books are good for book club or not. Not all enjoyable books are good for discussion so sometimes it seems like I'm being a party pooper when I object to books others have enjoyed. Other times I will wrinkle my nose at a suggestion because I really, really don't want to read it. (Admitting this isn't going to get me invited to any new book clubs I'm sure.) But maybe it helps redeem me a little bit when I say that there are books I am not terribly keen to read but have heard such good and promising things about that when they are suggested for book club, I jump on the bandwagon and push for them, despite the fact that I would normally shy away from them. I figure this is my way of getting out of my comfort zone. If book club picks it, I will have to read it, right? Sometimes I have my initial reluctance to read these books validated and other times I am surprised and pleased by having spent time between the pages. David Grann's Killers of the Flower Moon was one of the latter books. I don't much like books with murders but so many people were raving about it that when it was suggested for book club, I was willing to go along with its selection. And I am happy to say that I was thoroughly engaged by the story and am glad that I didn't pass this one by, even if people do die in it.
Less than 100 years ago members of the Osage tribe were being murdered. Chances are that you never heard about this in history class despite how recent it was and how the case played such a large part in the emergence of the FBI as the nation's top investigative agency. Perhaps it isn't covered because it is a history of greed, racism, and evil, one that we would surely want to distance ourselves from. But it's a history that shouldn't be ignored. In the 1920s, the Osage people were some of the wealthiest people in the US. After being driven out of their ancestral lands and relocated several times, they finally settled on what appeared to be a worthless piece of land in Oklahoma. In negotiating to create the reservation, their chief was smart enough to retain all mineral rights for the tribe members so when a large oil reserve was discovered under the reservation, the Osage struck it rich. But then they started to die, shot, poisoned, bombed. And no one was looking into these murders.
Told in three sections, this is narrative non-fiction at its best, both well-researched and thorough as well as engaging. The first section of the book focuses on Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman whose family is mysteriously dying before her very eyes. Local law enforcement investigates only very cursorily and allows obvious murders to remain unsolved. The so named Reign of Terror becomes so overwhelming that the Osage themselves finance an investigation into the untimely deaths. And then the people investigating start to die as well. The second portion of the book deals with the elaborate investigation, including that by the emerging FBI in its early days under J. Edgar Hoover. This piece of the book is centered on former Texas Ranger Tom White, whose dogged investigation, including using people and tactics that Hoover didn't always approve of, resulted in a trial despite local obstruction and prejudice. The third part of the book deals with Grann's speculation about the breadth of the case, all the pieces that have gone unpunished or unsolved, and the further evidence that he uncovered in the course of researching the book. The narrative sometimes bogs down a bit in the midst of the second piece, especially since the mastermind is never in doubt but over all, the story is a fascinating one and the path to justice is disturbing and byzantine. True crime aficionados will enjoy this immensely but those who rarely or never read true crime will find this completely engrossing as well. If you like narrative non-fiction, I highly recommend it.… (more)
Less than 100 years ago members of the Osage tribe were being murdered. Chances are that you never heard about this in history class despite how recent it was and how the case played such a large part in the emergence of the FBI as the nation's top investigative agency. Perhaps it isn't covered because it is a history of greed, racism, and evil, one that we would surely want to distance ourselves from. But it's a history that shouldn't be ignored. In the 1920s, the Osage people were some of the wealthiest people in the US. After being driven out of their ancestral lands and relocated several times, they finally settled on what appeared to be a worthless piece of land in Oklahoma. In negotiating to create the reservation, their chief was smart enough to retain all mineral rights for the tribe members so when a large oil reserve was discovered under the reservation, the Osage struck it rich. But then they started to die, shot, poisoned, bombed. And no one was looking into these murders.
Told in three sections, this is narrative non-fiction at its best, both well-researched and thorough as well as engaging. The first section of the book focuses on Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman whose family is mysteriously dying before her very eyes. Local law enforcement investigates only very cursorily and allows obvious murders to remain unsolved. The so named Reign of Terror becomes so overwhelming that the Osage themselves finance an investigation into the untimely deaths. And then the people investigating start to die as well. The second portion of the book deals with the elaborate investigation, including that by the emerging FBI in its early days under J. Edgar Hoover. This piece of the book is centered on former Texas Ranger Tom White, whose dogged investigation, including using people and tactics that Hoover didn't always approve of, resulted in a trial despite local obstruction and prejudice. The third part of the book deals with Grann's speculation about the breadth of the case, all the pieces that have gone unpunished or unsolved, and the further evidence that he uncovered in the course of researching the book. The narrative sometimes bogs down a bit in the midst of the second piece, especially since the mastermind is never in doubt but over all, the story is a fascinating one and the path to justice is disturbing and byzantine. True crime aficionados will enjoy this immensely but those who rarely or never read true crime will find this completely engrossing as well. If you like narrative non-fiction, I highly recommend it.… (more)
LibraryThing member Judiex
The 1920s were known as the Jazz age. Millionaires were abundant. The richest people per capita in the world lived in Oklahoma. They were members of the Osage Indian tribe.
President Thomas Jefferson had promised treat the Osage fairly, but within four years, he compelled them to relinquish their territory between the Arkansas River and the Missouri River. The Osage chief stated his people "had no choice, they must either sign the treaty of declared enemies of the United States.” During the next twenty years, the Osage were forced to move from their ancestral land, (more than 100 million acres), to a 50 x 125 mile (800,000 acres) area in southeastern Kansas. In the 1870s, they were driven to a rocky, worthless area of northeast Oklahoma.
That move would dramatically change their lives when oil was discovered under their land. Oklahoma opened up territory for allotment starting at noon September 16, 1893. There were 42,000 parcels of land available. They would go to the people who got there first. That’s how Oklahoma became to be called “The Sooner State.”
By the early 20th century, the Osage knew that they could no longer avoid what government official called the great storm gathering. The US government plan to break up Indian territory and make it a part of what would be a new state called Oklahoma. (In the Choctaw language, Oklahoma means red people.)
The good news was that the Osage became exceedingly wealthy. (In 1923 alone, the tribe took in more than $30 million, the equivalent today of more than $400 million.) The bad news was they quickly became a target for white people trying to get access to their money. A reporter from Harper's Monthly magazine wrote, “Where will it end? Every time a new well is drilled the Indians...are that much richer." He added "the Osage Indians are becoming so rich that something will have to be done about it."
Because the Osage and purchased their land, it was hard for the government to impose a policy allotment. The tribe, led by one of its greatest chiefs, James Big Heart – who spoke seven languages, among them Sioux, French, English, and Latin--was able to forestall the process but it mounted. Theater Roosevelt had already warned about would befall an Indian who refuses allotment: "Let him, like these whites, who will not work, perish from the face of the earth which he cumbers."
To some Osage, oil was a cursed blessing. "Someday this oil will go in there will be no more fat checks every few months from the great white father," the chief of the Osage said 1928. "They'll be no fine motor cars and new clothes. Then I know my people will be happier.”
As part of the process, merchants charged them inflated prices (A funeral could cost more than $6,000 ($80,000 today.) The government declared many of the Osage, including those who had served in the US Armed Forces, incompetent to handle their own financial affairs and appointed local white guardians for them. In 1921, Congress implemented draconian legislation controlling how the Osage could spend their money. The guardians had to approve all expenditures, including toothpaste. Guardians would not only continue to oversee their wards’ finances; under the new law, these Osage Indians with guardians were also restricted, which meant that each of them could withdraw no more than a few thousand dollars annually from his or her trust fund. It didn't matter if these Osage needed their money to pay for education or sick child's hospital bills.
Even though their money and high standard of living should have provided a lower death rate, between 1907 and 1923, the annual Osage death rate was about 19 per 1000 people. It was about 12 per 1000 for white people.
Many corrupt government officials and individuals did all they could to gain control of all the money. Among them were the doctors, lawyers, law enforcement, and elected leaders who were supposed to be protecting the members of the tribe. In addition, unscrupulous white men married Osage women and then proceeded to kill their wives and relatives so they could inherit the money. The mother and three sisters of Mollie Burkhart, one Osage woman, were all killed–two by gunshot, one by an explosion, and one by poison.
Molly pressed authorities to investigate her sister Anna's murder, but most officials seem to have little concern for what they deemed a "dead Injun."
Since the Revolutionary War, Americans had always feared police departments because the police would oppress them. That attitude changed in the mid-19th century following the growth of industry in cities and urban riots. The fear of lawlessness created support for police departments. By the time the Osage members began to be murdered, the informal system of citizen police he had been displaced, but vestiges of it remained, especially in places that still seem to exist on the periphery of geography and history.
Teddy Roosevelt created the FBI in 1908 hoping to fill the void in federal law enforcement. It had only a few hundred agents and only a smattering of field offices. Its jurisdiction over crimes was limited and agents handled hodgepodge of cases. Twenty-nine-year-old J. Edgar Hoover, who had no experience in law enforcement, became the Acting Director. He raised the employment qualifications for new agents, requiring them to have some legal training or knowledge of accounting. Many of the agents who had been involved and knew their jobs were dropped.
Hoover did, however, push to resolve the murders. It became part of the movement that turned the force into the powerful movement it was to become.
In 2012, David Grann visited the Osage nation to learn more about what had happened. He was able to discover that there were more deaths and murders than had been officially reported. Many were not even investigated. He was able to get information that named many of the people responsible. That information is related in the final portion of the book.
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON is not an easy book to read because of the subject matter. But it is an important one. The US government is still trying to take over the land owned by Native Americans and turn it over to companies who want to destroy it to get rich. The Native Americans are fighting back.
The book is very well written and very important. This year, Paramount bought the rights to make it into a movie with the talents of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio.… (more)
President Thomas Jefferson had promised treat the Osage fairly, but within four years, he compelled them to relinquish their territory between the Arkansas River and the Missouri River. The Osage chief stated his people "had no choice, they must either sign the treaty of declared enemies of the United States.” During the next twenty years, the Osage were forced to move from their ancestral land, (more than 100 million acres), to a 50 x 125 mile (800,000 acres) area in southeastern Kansas. In the 1870s, they were driven to a rocky, worthless area of northeast Oklahoma.
That move would dramatically change their lives when oil was discovered under their land. Oklahoma opened up territory for allotment starting at noon September 16, 1893. There were 42,000 parcels of land available. They would go to the people who got there first. That’s how Oklahoma became to be called “The Sooner State.”
By the early 20th century, the Osage knew that they could no longer avoid what government official called the great storm gathering. The US government plan to break up Indian territory and make it a part of what would be a new state called Oklahoma. (In the Choctaw language, Oklahoma means red people.)
The good news was that the Osage became exceedingly wealthy. (In 1923 alone, the tribe took in more than $30 million, the equivalent today of more than $400 million.) The bad news was they quickly became a target for white people trying to get access to their money. A reporter from Harper's Monthly magazine wrote, “Where will it end? Every time a new well is drilled the Indians...are that much richer." He added "the Osage Indians are becoming so rich that something will have to be done about it."
Because the Osage and purchased their land, it was hard for the government to impose a policy allotment. The tribe, led by one of its greatest chiefs, James Big Heart – who spoke seven languages, among them Sioux, French, English, and Latin--was able to forestall the process but it mounted. Theater Roosevelt had already warned about would befall an Indian who refuses allotment: "Let him, like these whites, who will not work, perish from the face of the earth which he cumbers."
To some Osage, oil was a cursed blessing. "Someday this oil will go in there will be no more fat checks every few months from the great white father," the chief of the Osage said 1928. "They'll be no fine motor cars and new clothes. Then I know my people will be happier.”
As part of the process, merchants charged them inflated prices (A funeral could cost more than $6,000 ($80,000 today.) The government declared many of the Osage, including those who had served in the US Armed Forces, incompetent to handle their own financial affairs and appointed local white guardians for them. In 1921, Congress implemented draconian legislation controlling how the Osage could spend their money. The guardians had to approve all expenditures, including toothpaste. Guardians would not only continue to oversee their wards’ finances; under the new law, these Osage Indians with guardians were also restricted, which meant that each of them could withdraw no more than a few thousand dollars annually from his or her trust fund. It didn't matter if these Osage needed their money to pay for education or sick child's hospital bills.
Even though their money and high standard of living should have provided a lower death rate, between 1907 and 1923, the annual Osage death rate was about 19 per 1000 people. It was about 12 per 1000 for white people.
Many corrupt government officials and individuals did all they could to gain control of all the money. Among them were the doctors, lawyers, law enforcement, and elected leaders who were supposed to be protecting the members of the tribe. In addition, unscrupulous white men married Osage women and then proceeded to kill their wives and relatives so they could inherit the money. The mother and three sisters of Mollie Burkhart, one Osage woman, were all killed–two by gunshot, one by an explosion, and one by poison.
Molly pressed authorities to investigate her sister Anna's murder, but most officials seem to have little concern for what they deemed a "dead Injun."
Since the Revolutionary War, Americans had always feared police departments because the police would oppress them. That attitude changed in the mid-19th century following the growth of industry in cities and urban riots. The fear of lawlessness created support for police departments. By the time the Osage members began to be murdered, the informal system of citizen police he had been displaced, but vestiges of it remained, especially in places that still seem to exist on the periphery of geography and history.
Teddy Roosevelt created the FBI in 1908 hoping to fill the void in federal law enforcement. It had only a few hundred agents and only a smattering of field offices. Its jurisdiction over crimes was limited and agents handled hodgepodge of cases. Twenty-nine-year-old J. Edgar Hoover, who had no experience in law enforcement, became the Acting Director. He raised the employment qualifications for new agents, requiring them to have some legal training or knowledge of accounting. Many of the agents who had been involved and knew their jobs were dropped.
Hoover did, however, push to resolve the murders. It became part of the movement that turned the force into the powerful movement it was to become.
In 2012, David Grann visited the Osage nation to learn more about what had happened. He was able to discover that there were more deaths and murders than had been officially reported. Many were not even investigated. He was able to get information that named many of the people responsible. That information is related in the final portion of the book.
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON is not an easy book to read because of the subject matter. But it is an important one. The US government is still trying to take over the land owned by Native Americans and turn it over to companies who want to destroy it to get rich. The Native Americans are fighting back.
The book is very well written and very important. This year, Paramount bought the rights to make it into a movie with the talents of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio.… (more)
LibraryThing member thornton37814
What a story! A conspiracy to kill members of the Osage Nation, particularly members of the family of Mollie Burkhart, took place in Osage County, Oklahoma, mostly during the 1920s. The tribe's mineral rights provided a motive for white men to want the Osage out of their way. The lack of action led many to believe local law enforcement were involved in the cover-up. We read of the efforts of former Texas Ranger Tom White who worked for the young J. Edgar Hoover and the newly established Bureau of Investigation. Even the early days of their investigation seemed to show they also had someone who was working as a double agent. Grann does a great job maintaining the reader's interest. The narrative bogs down only in a couple of places--and not for long. It's a piece of history worth studying. Grann includes many photographs which help readers picture the people and the action. Highly recommended.… (more)
LibraryThing member akblanchard
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Osage Indians of Oklahoma enjoyed great wealth because their government-assigned land contained vast oil deposits. This wealth, along with the common racist belief that Native Americans were not fully human, made the Osage the targets of grifters, burglars, and ultimately, even murderers. Killers of the Flower Moon tells the stories of the "Reign of Terror" that besieged the Osage, and of the dedicated FBI agents who finally brought a few of the perpetrators to a small degree of justice.
Many readers and critics have raved about this book, but I was surprised to find that it only barely held my interest. The writing style is tedious, and the author goes off on many tangents. It's a worthy and well-researched story that, in my opinion, fell apart in the execution.… (more)
Many readers and critics have raved about this book, but I was surprised to find that it only barely held my interest. The writing style is tedious, and the author goes off on many tangents. It's a worthy and well-researched story that, in my opinion, fell apart in the execution.… (more)
LibraryThing member Sheila1957
Interesting book on an event that is never taught in school. I especially liked when the investigation is taken over by the FBI. I was appalled by the murders. The Osage were intelligent when negotiating with the government and got the mineral rights to their lands. White man greed once again destroys lives and the Osage community because of oil. I also liked the last part as the reporter is going over the story and discovers that the four years of terror started long before those years and lasted longer with many more men and women who should have been arrested and prosecuted. Mr. Grann put a human face to the people whose lives were affected and the actions of those who were to protect the Osage cannot be justified. Shameful! A good read.… (more)
LibraryThing member mahsdad
This is an excellent piece of of narrative non-fiction that is subtitled; The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. I might plant my tongue firmly in cheek and call it Law and Order: Frontier Justice.
In the late 19th century, the Osage Nation was forced from their traditional lands on the plains to a reservation on the rocky ground of Northern Oklahoma. In the early 20th century, oil was discovered under this inhospitable land, and as the owners of the mineral rights, the people of the Osage Nation became the richest people per capita in the World.
Then in the 1920's, during what the Osage call the Reign of Terror, people start being murdered. Local law enforcement is ineffectual and the leader (a young J. Edgar Hoover) of what will become the FBI sends a former Texas Ranger to solve the case.
Its an incredible story of conspiracies, bigotry and jealousy. It had twists and turns and villains that even Hollywood's best screenwriters wouldn't come up with. Its a black mark on our history and one that I didn't even know existed. Its a worthwhile and important read.
9/10
S: 4/22/18 - 5/6/18 (15 Days)… (more)
In the late 19th century, the Osage Nation was forced from their traditional lands on the plains to a reservation on the rocky ground of Northern Oklahoma. In the early 20th century, oil was discovered under this inhospitable land, and as the owners of the mineral rights, the people of the Osage Nation became the richest people per capita in the World.
Then in the 1920's, during what the Osage call the Reign of Terror, people start being murdered. Local law enforcement is ineffectual and the leader (a young J. Edgar Hoover) of what will become the FBI sends a former Texas Ranger to solve the case.
Its an incredible story of conspiracies, bigotry and jealousy. It had twists and turns and villains that even Hollywood's best screenwriters wouldn't come up with. Its a black mark on our history and one that I didn't even know existed. Its a worthwhile and important read.
9/10
S: 4/22/18 - 5/6/18 (15 Days)… (more)
LibraryThing member BooksCooksLooks
I was completely ignorant of the tale this book tells. I did not know anything about the Osage, their oil rights or their being murdered for them. It’s sad that I’m not surprised that these events happened. The attitudes at the time toward Native Americans saw them as lessor humans. The same people that were supposed to be helping them were doing anything but.
The basics of the tale are the Osage moved onto land in Oklahoma that no one thought had any value. A wise tribal leader had it written into the land agreement that the tribe would maintain the rights to what was underground as well. This proved to be very smart as soon oil was discovered – a LOT of oil. Each headright as they were called was worth quite a bit of money as time went on. Soon the Osage were rolling in money and this led to fair amount of resentment.
Then the bodies started piling up. At first the investigations were haphazard and less than productive. As the death toll rose the outcry was such that the Federal Government sent in an investigator – from the nascent FBI – to sort out what was going on. This was the first big case for the bureau after J. Edgar Hoover took charge after the Teapot Dome Scandal. He wanted (and needed) to prove the Bureau could do a good job.
The man sent in for the job, Tom White, a former Texas Ranger found himself trying to solve a case that seemed to lead to more and more murders. As he investigation led to its conclusion he found a long list of people taking advantage of the Osage people.
But the end of White’s investigation is not the end of the story. As Mr. Grann was investigating the story he found many more stories of death and abuse of Osage at the hands of white people in town; either family members or the guardians who were supposed to be protecting people. He discovered there is still a lot left unsettled in this Oklahoma community.
I was shocked, horrified, appalled and disgusted at this piece of history. Not to mention the general, political corruption described within. It seems that money truly is an evil influence and for certain people they are truly willing to do anything to amass large quantities of it. I wanted to cry for what was done to these families for oil and the money it brought in. The Osage that pushed for investigations were often left with a feeling of no one cared because they were just Indians so was it really murder anyway?
The book is well written, very well researched and decidedly hard to put down. It reads in parts likes like a novel because it’s truly hard to believe that people can behave this way but truth, as they say is stranger than fiction and this book proves that for sure. All I can write is read this book. I think it is important that abuses like this should not be lost to history. They need to be remembered so as to not be forgotten.
Read this book.… (more)
The basics of the tale are the Osage moved onto land in Oklahoma that no one thought had any value. A wise tribal leader had it written into the land agreement that the tribe would maintain the rights to what was underground as well. This proved to be very smart as soon oil was discovered – a LOT of oil. Each headright as they were called was worth quite a bit of money as time went on. Soon the Osage were rolling in money and this led to fair amount of resentment.
Then the bodies started piling up. At first the investigations were haphazard and less than productive. As the death toll rose the outcry was such that the Federal Government sent in an investigator – from the nascent FBI – to sort out what was going on. This was the first big case for the bureau after J. Edgar Hoover took charge after the Teapot Dome Scandal. He wanted (and needed) to prove the Bureau could do a good job.
The man sent in for the job, Tom White, a former Texas Ranger found himself trying to solve a case that seemed to lead to more and more murders. As he investigation led to its conclusion he found a long list of people taking advantage of the Osage people.
But the end of White’s investigation is not the end of the story. As Mr. Grann was investigating the story he found many more stories of death and abuse of Osage at the hands of white people in town; either family members or the guardians who were supposed to be protecting people. He discovered there is still a lot left unsettled in this Oklahoma community.
I was shocked, horrified, appalled and disgusted at this piece of history. Not to mention the general, political corruption described within. It seems that money truly is an evil influence and for certain people they are truly willing to do anything to amass large quantities of it. I wanted to cry for what was done to these families for oil and the money it brought in. The Osage that pushed for investigations were often left with a feeling of no one cared because they were just Indians so was it really murder anyway?
The book is well written, very well researched and decidedly hard to put down. It reads in parts likes like a novel because it’s truly hard to believe that people can behave this way but truth, as they say is stranger than fiction and this book proves that for sure. All I can write is read this book. I think it is important that abuses like this should not be lost to history. They need to be remembered so as to not be forgotten.
Read this book.… (more)
LibraryThing member lisapeet
an interesting telling of a really terrible episode, a string of murders of Osage folks in the early '20s for their oil rights, and how the difficulty of working within the small-town racist corruption helped establish the FBI. Solid storytelling, easy read. But it's also tangentially about research, the choices you make to tell a story when you have a big pile of source material (literally, to hear Grann tell it) but no personal accounts, and when there's no convenient narrative arc or aha moment to hang it all on. And I think he did a good job of it, though you know someone else would have come up with an entirely different book.… (more)
LibraryThing member MikeDI
David Grann is a phenomenal researcher and writer. He goes way beyond the 'Just the Facts' and digs into his story and covers it thoroughly. While the story is not pleasant, it is on target and he does not get lost in going off on other directions like some other writers. He lays bare a moment in the history of the United States that was not nice. Kudos to Mr. Grann.… (more)
LibraryThing member book58lover
Often history is hidden or forgotten, particularly when it occurs at a distance from you. This is a history of a tragedy that should not be forgotten by us, and won't be forgotten by the Osage.
Over a period of a few years in the early 1920s a surprising number of Osage died under suspicious circumstances. This book focuses on one family that was decimated by these deaths, by poison, by gunshot, by an explosion. Why were they targeted??
The author uses unpublished documents from the FBI, the Osage Museum etc. to uncover the cause, beginning with the unimaginable riches received by the Osage from oil reserves under their land. Follow the money.
I particularly liked the followup at the end of the book that took place while writing this book, long after the Reign of Terror. This chapter made it clear that the incidents of nearly a hundred years ago are still very real to the Osage and all the families, which are all of them living in that county, that suffer still.
You can't read this book without feeling shame, anger, incredulity, and extreme sadness. Highly recommended.… (more)
Over a period of a few years in the early 1920s a surprising number of Osage died under suspicious circumstances. This book focuses on one family that was decimated by these deaths, by poison, by gunshot, by an explosion. Why were they targeted??
The author uses unpublished documents from the FBI, the Osage Museum etc. to uncover the cause, beginning with the unimaginable riches received by the Osage from oil reserves under their land. Follow the money.
I particularly liked the followup at the end of the book that took place while writing this book, long after the Reign of Terror. This chapter made it clear that the incidents of nearly a hundred years ago are still very real to the Osage and all the families, which are all of them living in that county, that suffer still.
You can't read this book without feeling shame, anger, incredulity, and extreme sadness. Highly recommended.… (more)
LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
Over the years, the Osage tribe was forcibly removed from their tribal lands and resettled multiple times by the U.S. government, finally ending up in a rocky area of Oklahoma no one else wanted. Then, in the early 20th century oil was discovered on their land. Each member of the tribe had "headrights" to the oil income, and overnight many of them found themselves among the most wealthy people in the U.S. Their new-found wealth attracted many unscrupulous people, and schemes and scams abounded.
In its infinite wisdom, the federal government decided that full-blooded Osage were incapable of handling their own financial affairs, and appointed "guardians" for them, usually white businessmen or lawyers. Many of these guardians were dishonest and abusive, for example, requiring their wards to purchase everything at businesses they owned at hugely inflated prices. There were also instances of guardians denying necessary expenses, such as for medical care, resulting in the deaths of their wards.
In addition, those Osage with headrights were sought after as "spouses" and these fortune hunters hoped for huge inheritances when their spouses passed on.
Some of these so-called "guardians" or spouses, decided to expedite their access to the Osage fortunes. For some of these fortune hunters their spouse's share of the oil income was not enough, and they decided to increase their spouse's share by insuring that their spouses became even wealthier by inheriting additional shares of income from their relatives who died suddenly and unexpectedly.
Grann opens this engaging narrative nonfiction account with a cluster of suspicious deaths within the family of Molly Burkhart. Her sister Minnie had died a few years previously of a "peculiar wasting illness." Her mother Lizzie was also weakening and dying of an unknown malady. Then her sister Anna is found in a ravine with a bullet in her head. Not surprisingly Molly began to fear for her life, along with many other Osage, including those who were attempting to investigate, as unexplained deaths continued to pile up. Ultimately, at least 60 full-blood Osage were murdered between 1921 and 1925.
Many of the murders were solved when the fledgling FBI moved in, mostly undercover, and investigated. However, many of the murders remain unsolved until the present day. During the course of his writing this book, several of the descendants of some of those who had died under mysterious circumstances sought David Grann's research skills to find answers, and their stories are also included in this book.
This was a fascinating and eye-opening account of the greed and corruption of those taking advantage of these wealthy Indians, from the guardians to the law enforcement officials to medical doctors to store owners and even to spouses. This was a real indictment of the prejudice against Native Americans and the atrocities committed against them.
Highly recommended.
4 stars… (more)
In its infinite wisdom, the federal government decided that full-blooded Osage were incapable of handling their own financial affairs, and appointed "guardians" for them, usually white businessmen or lawyers. Many of these guardians were dishonest and abusive, for example, requiring their wards to purchase everything at businesses they owned at hugely inflated prices. There were also instances of guardians denying necessary expenses, such as for medical care, resulting in the deaths of their wards.
In addition, those Osage with headrights were sought after as "spouses" and these fortune hunters hoped for huge inheritances when their spouses passed on.
Some of these so-called "guardians" or spouses, decided to expedite their access to the Osage fortunes. For some of these fortune hunters their spouse's share of the oil income was not enough, and they decided to increase their spouse's share by insuring that their spouses became even wealthier by inheriting additional shares of income from their relatives who died suddenly and unexpectedly.
Grann opens this engaging narrative nonfiction account with a cluster of suspicious deaths within the family of Molly Burkhart. Her sister Minnie had died a few years previously of a "peculiar wasting illness." Her mother Lizzie was also weakening and dying of an unknown malady. Then her sister Anna is found in a ravine with a bullet in her head. Not surprisingly Molly began to fear for her life, along with many other Osage, including those who were attempting to investigate, as unexplained deaths continued to pile up. Ultimately, at least 60 full-blood Osage were murdered between 1921 and 1925.
Many of the murders were solved when the fledgling FBI moved in, mostly undercover, and investigated. However, many of the murders remain unsolved until the present day. During the course of his writing this book, several of the descendants of some of those who had died under mysterious circumstances sought David Grann's research skills to find answers, and their stories are also included in this book.
This was a fascinating and eye-opening account of the greed and corruption of those taking advantage of these wealthy Indians, from the guardians to the law enforcement officials to medical doctors to store owners and even to spouses. This was a real indictment of the prejudice against Native Americans and the atrocities committed against them.
Highly recommended.
4 stars… (more)
LibraryThing member drmaf
On the surface, this an absolutely fascinating book, dealing with a case I had never really heard of. However, about halfway through I was really struggling to finish it. Meticulously researched as it was, it seemed to lack an emotional core. I never really felt like I was given a chance to identify and empathise with the Indians. The story moved too fast, involved too many people all dealt with fairly superficially, and despite the confected outrage, I was not convinced the author was emotionally involved enough with the horrendous events he was describing. ironically. the book only really hit its straps literally in the last few pages, where the epilogue detailed the fates of everyone involved and the author's visits to the locations and meeting the descendants of the people involved. At last here the story felt real, and the outrage and sorrow was genuine. For that reason alone, and simply because the story itself is so fascinating, its worth reading.… (more)
LibraryThing member TooBusyReading
The many murders of the Osage people is a part of history I'd never heard before. The Osage had been relegated to a useless piece of land in Oklahoma, land nobody else wanted. Well, up until huge reservoirs of oil were found there in the 1920s and then everyone wanted the land, or at least the oil beneath it, and the murders began.
As with other chapters of our treatment of Native American nations, we did our best to cheat and steal and even kill. We treated the Osage like children, incapable of taking care of themselves and given guardians who did not have their best interests at heart.
It seems a common practice was for a “white” man to marry an Osage, and kill her or have her killed either quickly or slowly so the money would come to the white person. And the white leaders of the community were behind it and benefiting greatly from it.
The book is well researched, and the author has uncovered new information, or tied together some old bits and pieces that make for a sinister whole. However, many of the murders were never solved, and it seems, many never investigated at all, not even sham investigations.
For me, this was an eye-opening book, and in a way I wish I hadn't read it because once again, it's a tale of those in power abusing those not in power because of greed and because they could or thought they could get away with it. But we cannot change history by closing our eyes to it, and I recommend this book to anyone interested in the country's history.… (more)
As with other chapters of our treatment of Native American nations, we did our best to cheat and steal and even kill. We treated the Osage like children, incapable of taking care of themselves and given guardians who did not have their best interests at heart.
It seems a common practice was for a “white” man to marry an Osage, and kill her or have her killed either quickly or slowly so the money would come to the white person. And the white leaders of the community were behind it and benefiting greatly from it.
The book is well researched, and the author has uncovered new information, or tied together some old bits and pieces that make for a sinister whole. However, many of the murders were never solved, and it seems, many never investigated at all, not even sham investigations.
For me, this was an eye-opening book, and in a way I wish I hadn't read it because once again, it's a tale of those in power abusing those not in power because of greed and because they could or thought they could get away with it. But we cannot change history by closing our eyes to it, and I recommend this book to anyone interested in the country's history.… (more)
LibraryThing member bragan
After being displaced from their traditional lands, members of the Osage tribe settled in Oklahoma, deliberately purchasing undesirable land on the theory that white people would not want to come and take it away from them this time. But they were smart enough to also buy the mineral rights, and when rich fields of oil were found on their property, they became some of the wealthiest people on Earth. Then, in the 1920s, many of them started dying: succumbing to poison, or turning up in ditches with bullet holes in their skulls, or, in one case, having their house blown up with them inside. David Grann tells the story of these murders, the FBI agents who investigated them (some of whom were also murdered), and the people whose lives were affected by them.
I have to say, I think I Grann's writing is best in short form. Some of the pieces in his collection The Devil and Sherlock Holmes are phenomenal. But I found this one a little rambly (something I remember also thinking about his The Lost City of Z, although I liked that one overall), and not as compellingly written as I might have hoped, with some attempts to zazz things up with vivid writing that seem a little overdone to me and not entirely effective. I also had some real trouble keeping track of all the relevant people, their names and their relationships, although that probably has as much to do with the complexity of the events as with Grann's ability to convey them clearly.
I do, however, very much admire the thoroughness of Grann's research. And the story he's telling is a fascinating one, in its own depressing way, full of violence, betrayal, conspiracy, greed, corruption, racism, and loose ends left to dangle for the better part of a century. If it were a novel instead of a true story, you might almost find some of the details too sensational, but truth really is sometimes stranger than fiction.
Rating: I'm giving this a 3.5/5, but I feel a little uncharitable about not rating it higher.… (more)
I have to say, I think I Grann's writing is best in short form. Some of the pieces in his collection The Devil and Sherlock Holmes are phenomenal. But I found this one a little rambly (something I remember also thinking about his The Lost City of Z, although I liked that one overall), and not as compellingly written as I might have hoped, with some attempts to zazz things up with vivid writing that seem a little overdone to me and not entirely effective. I also had some real trouble keeping track of all the relevant people, their names and their relationships, although that probably has as much to do with the complexity of the events as with Grann's ability to convey them clearly.
I do, however, very much admire the thoroughness of Grann's research. And the story he's telling is a fascinating one, in its own depressing way, full of violence, betrayal, conspiracy, greed, corruption, racism, and loose ends left to dangle for the better part of a century. If it were a novel instead of a true story, you might almost find some of the details too sensational, but truth really is sometimes stranger than fiction.
Rating: I'm giving this a 3.5/5, but I feel a little uncharitable about not rating it higher.… (more)
LibraryThing member jaylcee
Second book I've read by David Grann. May I remember I think he is a horrible writer and never buy another book of his. Boring writing style.
LibraryThing member tangledthread
Narrative nonfiction about the Osage Indians in Oklahoma from the end of the 19th century through the early 20th century. How they were exploited for the oil under the land, while they were some of the wealthiest people in the world.
Part of that exploitation involved murder. Which introduces us to the birth of the FBI and the evolution of J. Edgar Hoover to the top of that organization.
The story is well written, informative, and populated with some well known names in the early petroleum industry. Sadly the victims in the story are not as well known, though they should be.… (more)
Part of that exploitation involved murder. Which introduces us to the birth of the FBI and the evolution of J. Edgar Hoover to the top of that organization.
The story is well written, informative, and populated with some well known names in the early petroleum industry. Sadly the victims in the story are not as well known, though they should be.… (more)
LibraryThing member ritaer
It is needless to praise this book as it has already received an Edgar award for best factual crime for 2018. Grann has produced a heavily researched account of a major case handled by the then new FBI. Mysterious deaths and outright murders had plagued the Osage Tribe, located in upper Oklahoma. The tribe had been relocated from a reservation in Kansas to acreage they purchased from the Cherokee. Despite attempts to seize the land the tribe had managed to hold on to much of it, and to the mineral rights. When oil was discovered each enrolled tribal member had what was known as 'headrights' to a portion of the oil lease money. Tribal members went from living in traditional lodges or shacks to building mansions and driving expensive automobiles. However murders of tribal members were not adequately investigated by either the local police or private detectives. Eventually the case was given to the FBI and despite many setbacks, including witnesses murdered, collaborators who retracted their testimony and bribed juries, three men were convicted of several murders. The case was considered closed and the FBI congratulated on the success of its methods. Grann, however, researched other deaths within the tribe and believes that there were other killers and other murders. Suspiciously high numbers of Osage died, far exceeding the death rate for the rest of the nation. It is too late to solve these crimes and Grann does not detail his suspicions against people no longer alive to defend themselves. However this is a sobering reminder that exploitation and outright killing of Native Americans did not end with the official end of Indian Wars. In fact, a similar situation seems to currently exist in the Canada and northern states of the US, with disappearances and murders of Native American women and girls left unsolved. The book has an extensive set of notes, a bibliography and illustrations. However it lacks an index, which is unfortunate. I also feel that it would be improved by a complete list of the victims, with their relations to one another and to the suspected killers and a chronology of the events.… (more)
LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
Some of the largest oil deposits in the continental United States were discovered in Oklahoma around the turn of the 20th century, below land that had been established as an Osage Indian reservation in the 1870's. The land had been presumed worthless, but the Native Americans inscribed on the Osage Roll were suddenly in possession of the rights to an unfathomable fortune. While technically each member of the Osage Nation was entitled to a share of the mineral reserves underlying their reservation, and that share could only be inherited, never sold, the land above this "underground reservation" could be sold, and leases for drilling were auctioned off several times a year for fantastic prices once the extent of the hidden resources became apparent. By the 1920's the tribe were considered the wealthiest people per capita in the world. A reporter for Harper's Monthly noted that "The Osage Indians are becoming so rich that something will have to be done about it." Individually, they were also increasingly becoming the targets of ruthless schemes to take their money, their rights, and their lives. Tribal members began to die--some of mysterious ailments, others of bullets and explosions. Local authorities did not get particularly excited about Indians who died or disappeared. Even the obvious murders were only half-heartedly investigated, until a young man named J. Edgar Hoover, recently named to head the country's fledgling national police force (then known simply as the Bureau of Investigation), decided to make a name for himself by solving a spate of murders on the Osage Indian Reservation. Many of the Osage were deemed by the government to be incompetent to manage their own affairs, and were assigned guardians who controlled their money. The same individual might be appointed to "look after" a dozen tribal members. Many guardians were implicated in the deaths of their wards, as were doctors, sheriffs, prominent businessmen and even judges. White men married Osage women and raised families with the ulterior motive of getting their hands on Osage black gold profits. In one case, it was obvious that a husband was involved in the killing of several members of his wife's family over the years, and that he had fully intended for his wife and his own children to die in an explosion that killed her sister and brother-in-law. Officially, between 1907 and 1923, 24 members of the Osage Nation were murdered or died under suspicious circumstances. Scholarly research and investigations undertaken in the decades since, according to David Grann, suggest that the actual number of victims is probably in the hundreds. Killers of the Flower Moon is a very compelling narrative that documents a horrific chapter in American history.… (more)
LibraryThing member The_Hibernator
In the 1920s, the Osage Indians of Oklahoma were the richest people per capita due to the discovery of oil on their land. The federal government decided that the Osage were not "fit" to make monetary decisions on their own, and they were appointed legal guardians who did anything but guard the safety of their legal charges. Over a period of several years, many rich Osage were murdered (or died suspiciously) in what appears to be a conspiracy among legal guardians to gain control of the wealth. Outlining malicious greed and terror, Killers of the Flower Moon begins by following a specific set of murders that the FBI "solved." Grann then continues the book by describing his own research into other mysterious deaths that happened around the same time.
This book is engaging and terrifying at the same time. It's sadly too easy to believe that people appointed to be "guardians" would act so despicably, as well as disgusting and bigoted that the federal government claimed the Osage needed guardians to getting with. Such a tragic story. But one that I think every American should read to understand how the government has treated Native Americans.… (more)
This book is engaging and terrifying at the same time. It's sadly too easy to believe that people appointed to be "guardians" would act so despicably, as well as disgusting and bigoted that the federal government claimed the Osage needed guardians to getting with. Such a tragic story. But one that I think every American should read to understand how the government has treated Native Americans.… (more)
LibraryThing member breic
The story Grann uncovers is utterly horrifying—especially the last chapters, where some murders are resolved and many more left unresolved. Strangely, though, the book had both much more detail than I wanted to know, and much less. It suffers from the magazine-article-blown-up-into-a-book disease. In order to stretch out the story, Grann throws in lots of details. But also in order to stretch out the story, he keeps the big picture to himself, so that the narrative of his reporting can be written in, too, filling more pages. I found this frustrating.… (more)
LibraryThing member Unkletom
David Grann has pulled from the dustbin of history and given new life to a tragic tale of greed, murder and attempted genocide. It is a story that I am ashamed to say I had never heard of before reading his book. The systematic murder of Osage Indians for their headrights (oil well residuals) gives readers a disheartening answer to the question of how far people will go to make a dollar.
My thanks to Nancy and the folks at the The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group for giving me the opportunity to read and discuss this and many other fine books.… (more)
My thanks to Nancy and the folks at the The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group for giving me the opportunity to read and discuss this and many other fine books.… (more)
LibraryThing member irregularreader
In the early 1920s, members of the Osage tribe, made wealthy through oil reserves underneath their reservation, began to die. Some were shot, either in robberies or apparent suicides. Others were poisoned, tainted whiskey being a favorite vehicle. More than one tribal member simply “wasted away,” their deaths attributed to an unknown illness. One woman, Maggie Burkhart, watched as her sisters, mother, and even her daughter died, leaving her in sole possession of a significant fortune. it was almost inevitable that Maggie would begin to fall ill as well . . .
In Washington, J. Edgar Hoover is under a tremendous amount of pressure to prove the worth of his new Investigative Bureau. With local and state authorities unable or unwilling to investigate the Osage deaths, Hoover sends agents to start what would turn into a multi-year investigation, and would set Oklahoman society on edge.
This non-fiction book is written as a murder mystery in three parts. The first part introduces us to the major players, using primary sources from Maggie Burkhart, her family, and other Osage tribe members of the time. The second part is concerned with the FBI’s investigation and is drawn primarily from the memoirs of Agent Tom White, J. Edgar Hoover, and other investigators. The third portion of the book deals with the author’s own investigation into the murders.
The book itself is engagingly written, and the subject matter has been largely forgotten by history. The subject matter itself is compelling and infuriating; the pervasive and institutionalized racism that allowed these crimes to hide amid a thousand lesser forms of violence is nothing short of appalling. The Osage in the 1920s, while millionaires on paper, were treated more like indentured servants. The government would not allow the Osage to manage their own money, each was assigned to a white “guardian” who held complete control of their finances. The abuses such a system would invite are easy to imagine. In addition, the lack of investigation (for years), suggests a breathtaking lack of concern in the swath of deaths; so long as those dying were not white. Indeed, many at the time seemed to think that the “uppity Indians” had brought such violence upon themselves, solely by being richer than their white neighbors.
This is a fantastic example of narrative nonfiction. Grann has created an incredible narrative from this story. The horror the Osage lived with in the first decades of the twentieth century has been lost to history until now, but it is a story that needs to be told. Fans of Erik Larsen will enjoy this book.
An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.… (more)
In Washington, J. Edgar Hoover is under a tremendous amount of pressure to prove the worth of his new Investigative Bureau. With local and state authorities unable or unwilling to investigate the Osage deaths, Hoover sends agents to start what would turn into a multi-year investigation, and would set Oklahoman society on edge.
This non-fiction book is written as a murder mystery in three parts. The first part introduces us to the major players, using primary sources from Maggie Burkhart, her family, and other Osage tribe members of the time. The second part is concerned with the FBI’s investigation and is drawn primarily from the memoirs of Agent Tom White, J. Edgar Hoover, and other investigators. The third portion of the book deals with the author’s own investigation into the murders.
The book itself is engagingly written, and the subject matter has been largely forgotten by history. The subject matter itself is compelling and infuriating; the pervasive and institutionalized racism that allowed these crimes to hide amid a thousand lesser forms of violence is nothing short of appalling. The Osage in the 1920s, while millionaires on paper, were treated more like indentured servants. The government would not allow the Osage to manage their own money, each was assigned to a white “guardian” who held complete control of their finances. The abuses such a system would invite are easy to imagine. In addition, the lack of investigation (for years), suggests a breathtaking lack of concern in the swath of deaths; so long as those dying were not white. Indeed, many at the time seemed to think that the “uppity Indians” had brought such violence upon themselves, solely by being richer than their white neighbors.
This is a fantastic example of narrative nonfiction. Grann has created an incredible narrative from this story. The horror the Osage lived with in the first decades of the twentieth century has been lost to history until now, but it is a story that needs to be told. Fans of Erik Larsen will enjoy this book.
An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.… (more)
LibraryThing member Darcia
America has an ugly history of racism and abuse of the original Americans. This book takes on part of that history, with a look at how racism against Native Americans allowed white European Americans' greed to practically decimate the Osage Indians. At the heart of it all is the almighty oil, which always seems to leave a bloody trail in its path. Some things never change.
David Grann does an excellent job of reconstructing the events of this tragedy. The writing is straight forward, with a style that's a mix of narrative nonfiction and history textbook. We get a clear picture of what it must have been like for the Osage to have gone from living off the land, their land, free and independent, to being tossed into a white man's world in which they were confined, controlled, ruled over, and murdered at will.
We also get a look at the fledgling FBI, and one investigator in particular who cared enough to delve into the heart of the Osage murders. Had any form of justice for Native Americans existed back then, these murders would never have gone on as they did. In retrospect, the killers and their motives are blatantly obvious. Sadly, the power of a select few over an entire race, along with the abject indifference of the masses, allowed greed and perceived entitlement to prevail.
I'd like to say that we, as a nation, have learned something from these past events, and that we have become more tolerant of "the other". But I think too many people have only gotten better at justifying racism, while wrapping it up in a patriotic flag.
For those who are interested in American history and Native American culture, this is a powerful but uncomfortable read.
*I was provided with an advance ebook copy by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.*… (more)
David Grann does an excellent job of reconstructing the events of this tragedy. The writing is straight forward, with a style that's a mix of narrative nonfiction and history textbook. We get a clear picture of what it must have been like for the Osage to have gone from living off the land, their land, free and independent, to being tossed into a white man's world in which they were confined, controlled, ruled over, and murdered at will.
We also get a look at the fledgling FBI, and one investigator in particular who cared enough to delve into the heart of the Osage murders. Had any form of justice for Native Americans existed back then, these murders would never have gone on as they did. In retrospect, the killers and their motives are blatantly obvious. Sadly, the power of a select few over an entire race, along with the abject indifference of the masses, allowed greed and perceived entitlement to prevail.
I'd like to say that we, as a nation, have learned something from these past events, and that we have become more tolerant of "the other". But I think too many people have only gotten better at justifying racism, while wrapping it up in a patriotic flag.
For those who are interested in American history and Native American culture, this is a powerful but uncomfortable read.
*I was provided with an advance ebook copy by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.*… (more)
LibraryThing member bowedbookshelf
That we as a nation, less than one hundred years after the Osage Indian killings, have no collective memory of these events seems an intentional erasure. The truth of the killings would traumatize our school children and make every one of us search our souls, of that there is no doubt. David Grann shows us that the systematic killings of dozens of oil-wealthy Osage Indians were not simply the rogue deeds of a psychopath or two in a small town in Oklahoma.
The tentacles of guilt and the politics of fear extended to townspeople who earned their reputation as “successful” because they allowed these murders and thefts of property to go on, as well as implicated law enforcement. Grann outlines how the case was solved and brought to court by the persistence of FBI officer Tom White and his band, but Grann is not full-throated in his praise of Hoover's FBI. He leaves us feeling ambiguous, not about White, but about Hoover.
The Osage Indians once laid claim to much of the central part of what is now called the United States, “a territory that stretched from what is now Missouri and Kansas to Oklahoma and still farther west, all the way to the Rockies.” The tribe was physically imposing, described by Thomas Jefferson as “the finest men we have ever seen,” whose warriors typically stood over six feet tall. They were given land by Jefferson as part of their settlement to stop fighting the Indian Wars in the early 1700s.
Jefferson reneged on the agreement within four years, and ended up giving the once-mighty Osage a 50-by-125 mile area in southeastern Kansas to call their own. Gradually, however, white settlers found they liked that particular Kansas farmland and moved onto it anyway, killing anyone who challenged them, oftentimes the legal “owners”. The government then forced the Osage to sell the Kansas land and buy rocky, hilly land in Oklahoma, land no white man would want, where the Osage would be “safe” from encroachment. This was the late 1800s.
In the early 1900s oil was discovered on that ‘worthless’ Oklahoma land and because a representative of the Osage tribe was in Washington to defend Osage interests, he managed to include in the legal agreement of the allotment of Indian Territory “that the oil, gas, coal, or other minerals covered by the lands…are hereby reserved to the Osage Tribe.” Living Osage family members each were given a headright, or a share in the tribe’s mineral trust. The headrights could not be sold, they could only be inherited.
The Osage became immensely wealthy. The federal government expressed some concern (!) that the Osage were unable to manage their own wealth, and so ordered that local town professionals, white men, be appointed as guardians. One Indian WWI veteran complained he was not permitted to sign his own checks without oversight, and expenditures down to toothpaste were monitored. But this is not even the most terrible of the legacies. The Osage began to be murdered, one by one.
When Grann discovered rumblings of this century-old criminal case in Oklahoma, he wanted to see the extent of what was called the Reign of Terror, thought to have begun in 1921 and lasted until 1926, when some of the cases were finally successfully prosecuted. The “reign,” he discovered, was much longer and wider than originally imagined, and therefore did not just implicate the men who were eventually jailed for the crimes. “White people in Oklahoma thought no more of killing an Indian than they did in 1724.” said John Ramsey, one of the men eventually jailed for crimes against the Osage. A reporter noted, “The attitude of a pioneer cattleman toward a full-blood Indian…is fairly well recognized.”
What we learn in the course of this account is that a great number of people had information that could have led to answers much sooner than it did, but because there was so much corruption, even the undercover agents and sheriffs were in on the open secret of the murders. Those townspeople who might be willing to divulge what they knew were unable to discover to whom they should share information lest they be murdered as well. Grann was able to answer some questions never resolved at the time, with his access to a greater number of now-available documents.
Why this history is not better known is a mystery still. Memory of it was fading already in the late 1950s when a film, The FBI Story starring Jimmy Stewart, made mention of it. The 1920s are not so long ago, and some of the people who were children then have only recently passed away, or may even be still living. Among the Osage there is institutional memory, and still some resentment, naturally, and a long-lasting mistrust of white people. Need I say this is a must-read?
The audio of this book is narrated by three individuals: Ann Marie Lee, Will Patton, and Danny Campbell. Interestingly, the voices of the narrators seem to age over the course of the history, and it is a tale well-told. But the paper copy of this has photographs which add a huge amount of depth and interest to the story. This is another good candidate for a Whispersync option, but if you are going to choose one, the paper was my favorite.… (more)
The tentacles of guilt and the politics of fear extended to townspeople who earned their reputation as “successful” because they allowed these murders and thefts of property to go on, as well as implicated law enforcement. Grann outlines how the case was solved and brought to court by the persistence of FBI officer Tom White and his band, but Grann is not full-throated in his praise of Hoover's FBI. He leaves us feeling ambiguous, not about White, but about Hoover.
The Osage Indians once laid claim to much of the central part of what is now called the United States, “a territory that stretched from what is now Missouri and Kansas to Oklahoma and still farther west, all the way to the Rockies.” The tribe was physically imposing, described by Thomas Jefferson as “the finest men we have ever seen,” whose warriors typically stood over six feet tall. They were given land by Jefferson as part of their settlement to stop fighting the Indian Wars in the early 1700s.
Jefferson reneged on the agreement within four years, and ended up giving the once-mighty Osage a 50-by-125 mile area in southeastern Kansas to call their own. Gradually, however, white settlers found they liked that particular Kansas farmland and moved onto it anyway, killing anyone who challenged them, oftentimes the legal “owners”. The government then forced the Osage to sell the Kansas land and buy rocky, hilly land in Oklahoma, land no white man would want, where the Osage would be “safe” from encroachment. This was the late 1800s.
In the early 1900s oil was discovered on that ‘worthless’ Oklahoma land and because a representative of the Osage tribe was in Washington to defend Osage interests, he managed to include in the legal agreement of the allotment of Indian Territory “that the oil, gas, coal, or other minerals covered by the lands…are hereby reserved to the Osage Tribe.” Living Osage family members each were given a headright, or a share in the tribe’s mineral trust. The headrights could not be sold, they could only be inherited.
The Osage became immensely wealthy. The federal government expressed some concern (!) that the Osage were unable to manage their own wealth, and so ordered that local town professionals, white men, be appointed as guardians. One Indian WWI veteran complained he was not permitted to sign his own checks without oversight, and expenditures down to toothpaste were monitored. But this is not even the most terrible of the legacies. The Osage began to be murdered, one by one.
When Grann discovered rumblings of this century-old criminal case in Oklahoma, he wanted to see the extent of what was called the Reign of Terror, thought to have begun in 1921 and lasted until 1926, when some of the cases were finally successfully prosecuted. The “reign,” he discovered, was much longer and wider than originally imagined, and therefore did not just implicate the men who were eventually jailed for the crimes. “White people in Oklahoma thought no more of killing an Indian than they did in 1724.” said John Ramsey, one of the men eventually jailed for crimes against the Osage. A reporter noted, “The attitude of a pioneer cattleman toward a full-blood Indian…is fairly well recognized.”
What we learn in the course of this account is that a great number of people had information that could have led to answers much sooner than it did, but because there was so much corruption, even the undercover agents and sheriffs were in on the open secret of the murders. Those townspeople who might be willing to divulge what they knew were unable to discover to whom they should share information lest they be murdered as well. Grann was able to answer some questions never resolved at the time, with his access to a greater number of now-available documents.
Why this history is not better known is a mystery still. Memory of it was fading already in the late 1950s when a film, The FBI Story starring Jimmy Stewart, made mention of it. The 1920s are not so long ago, and some of the people who were children then have only recently passed away, or may even be still living. Among the Osage there is institutional memory, and still some resentment, naturally, and a long-lasting mistrust of white people. Need I say this is a must-read?
The audio of this book is narrated by three individuals: Ann Marie Lee, Will Patton, and Danny Campbell. Interestingly, the voices of the narrators seem to age over the course of the history, and it is a tale well-told. But the paper copy of this has photographs which add a huge amount of depth and interest to the story. This is another good candidate for a Whispersync option, but if you are going to choose one, the paper was my favorite.… (more)