NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history, from the author of The Lost City of Z.In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built … their land, the Osage 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. One of her relatives was shot. Another was poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered.
As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent who infiltrated the region, and together with the Osage began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.
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Excellent historical book about the terrible treatment of Native Americans
This is a very good book although heart-breaking. If you love solving crimes, you will love this book.
Did you know that in the early twentieth century, the Osage were the wealthiest people per capita in the entire world? I didn’t. Killers of the Flower Moon is the story of what happens when envy is allowed to metastasize throughout an entire community due to racism and greed. If you have ever questioned whether the past can be papered over and quarantined from the present or whether ignorance really is bliss, this book provides the answer. The narrative reads like the best kind of suspense novel — with chilling twists I never saw coming — even though it’s pulled from the pages of history. Highly recommended.
This was the best of the best in book club. I recommend it all the time. Lowest rating was a 4 or 4.5. Mostly 5s. I was hooked from page 1.
As a true crime fan I loved hearing the origin story of the FBI!
extraordinary story by an excellent writer. It seems that our history has many unknown horrid episodes
A must read for every American.
This book uncovers the little known appalling history of the systematic elimination of members of the Choctaw nation in Oklahoma over a period of decades to acquire their profits from the oil bonanza derived from the parched barren reservation assigned to them by the government. It’s told with depth, compassion and an unwavering eye on the real truth revealed from personal correspondence, oral interviews and official records and shames the government once again for their poor oversight and collusion in addition to the poorly considered laws that allowed the travesty to happen in the first place. It’s an easy read from the point of view of the flowing narrative but a difficult one from the tragedy it covers. And that just such tragedies continue to occur in other forms. And that it’s Native American/Indigenous peoples lives that matter too.
i like true stories and this was an amazing true story that i will recommend to all my book friends.
Wow, I didn’t know anything about these real life events. Shocking and so sad. I knew Indians have been treated badly, but this revealed how people took it to a whole new level. Not only taking advantage but taking lives. A real eye-opener.
Whatever you thought you knew about Indians and how the US treated them (even if you thought it was bad), this is much much worse. You wonder how many other areas did similar things collectively to erase tribes from the earth, then erase any notion of wrongdoing thereafter.
This non-fiction book was a fascinating read about a subject I knew little about. The Osage Indians after being forced into Oklahoma in the early 1900’s end up being one of the richest groups in the world die to the oil reserves under their land. This quickly makes them targets for people who want the land and Osage tribe members begin to be murdered. Finally, the newly formed FBI becomes involved in the quest to find out who is responsible for the deaths.
Difficult to read because of the history of white, entitled, mostly males and Native American tribes
Mandatory read, we should have done so in high school.
A history of Oklahoma I never knew.
GRANN TELLS THE ALMOST FORGOTTEN STORY OF THE OSAGE INDIANS DEATHS INVESTIGATIONS FROM THE 1920’S AND THE BIRTH OF J. EDGAR HOOVER’S FBI. THE BOOK TRACES THE EARLY DAYS OF THE OKLAHOMA OIL RUSH AND ITS FATAL CONSEQUENCES. A LOOK INTO A PERIOD OF HISTORY I WAS NOT AWARE OF !!
What a tragedy! I’d never heard about the Osage murders before. Frankly, it was difficult to believe. It definitely made my heart cry to realize this is all true. It makes me SO ashamed of my country for letting this happen – by looking the other way and ignoring all the facts for so many years.
David Grann writes of the destruction of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. The oil found on their land created a deadly removal of the tribes members When the FBI was called a Texas ranger Tom White was sent to solve the murders. Those attempting to find an answer to the murders disappeared as well . The narrative reminds us what occurs when greed and prejudice become more important than respect and trust
BookBub beat me to it, “haunting” is the word that comes to mind after finishing this. The last act is heart-breaking and all too familiar. A beautifully rendered tragedy loaded with lessons about the dark side of human nature that deserves wider attention.
Mostly shocking.