PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • The gripping true story of a murder on an Indian reservation, and the unforgettable Arikara woman who becomes obsessed with solving it—an urgent work of literary journalism. “I don’t know a more complicated, original protagonist in literature than Lissa Yellow Bird, or a more dogged reporter in American journalism than Sierra Crane Murdoch.”—William Finnegan, Pulitzer … Murdoch.”—William Finnegan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Barbarian Days
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WINNER OF THE OREGON BOOK AWARD • NOMINATED FOR THE EDGAR® AWARD • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • NPR • Publishers Weekly
When Lissa Yellow Bird was released from prison in 2009, she found her home, the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, transformed by the Bakken oil boom. In her absence, the landscape had been altered beyond recognition, her tribal government swayed by corporate interests, and her community burdened by a surge in violence and addiction. Three years later, when Lissa learned that a young white oil worker, Kristopher “KC” Clarke, had disappeared from his reservation worksite, she became particularly concerned. No one knew where Clarke had gone, and few people were actively looking for him.
Yellow Bird traces Lissa’s steps as she obsessively hunts for clues to Clarke’s disappearance. She navigates two worlds—that of her own tribe, changed by its newfound wealth, and that of the non-Native oilmen, down on their luck, who have come to find work on the heels of the economic recession. Her pursuit of Clarke is also a pursuit of redemption, as Lissa atones for her own crimes and reckons with generations of trauma. Yellow Bird is an exquisitely written, masterfully reported story about a search for justice and a remarkable portrait of a complex woman who is smart, funny, eloquent, compassionate, and—when it serves her cause—manipulative. Drawing on eight years of immersive investigation, Sierra Crane Murdoch has produced a profound examination of the legacy of systematic violence inflicted on a tribal nation and a tale of extraordinary healing.
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I loved the book and the characters. I enjoyed the journey, lfelt I was right along with her.
The level of corruption both inside and outside the crime was mind-blowing. It also made me ashamed at the past and on-going treatment of Native Americans in this country. Justice was a long time coming in this case and Yellow Bird (a fascinating person) is to be commended for her perseverance in calling out injustice.
This book is informative, but it is not written with great sophistication. At times I felt like I was reading a teenage girl’s diary: “She said…” “She was like…” Such phrases and others similar to them clutter most pages, to the point of being distracting. Yet, the content is significant. The North Dakota oil boom wreaked havoc on the Berthold Indian Reservation—a story Americans ought to know. I cannot enthusiastically recommend Yellow Bird, but I do think that this chapter of recent history is important.
“Amateur” comes from French meaning one who loves, or one who acts for love. It now means an unpaid person, not a professional. In mystery fiction, the amateur sleuth borders on implausible when it comes to investigating murders, so writers come up with ways to get an amateur involved by giving her a personal stake in the case such as being accused of the crime, or a friend being accused, or the death of someone they know. Lissa Yellow Bird got involved because she cared about strangers—about a woman in the far-off state of Washington who had lost her son when he disappeared from Lissa’s land, the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. He was one of the outsiders who flooded the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota during the oil boom. Lissa didn’t know him, but she was a mother with sons. That was enough. And she’d seen what the oil boom was doing to her people. She brings love back into the meaning of amateur.
Lissa studied criminal justice in college but never worked in law enforcement. She worked as an advocate in the tribal court for a while, but she also was at one time a criminal—a drug addict and a dealer. She spent time in prison. Her insights into how criminals think, her understanding of the law and how to access criminal records, and even her contacts with law enforcement from having been arrested, made her a determined and effective amateur, searching for a missing man and for justice. Her intelligence and persistence, her willingness to give of her time, amazed me.
This is not only the story of Lissa’s investigations and searches, but of her spiritual growth, and her relationships with members of her complicated family. It’s also the story of the boom and bust on the Fort Berthold Reservation, and the story of the three tribes that live there and their relationship with their land.
The author asks some deep questions in wrapping up this story, challenging the reader to keep thinking and questioning as well. If you need an escape from escapism, a serious read that’s still a page-turner, this is your book.
Sierra Crane Murdoch has written a deft, compelling account of an oil field murder and the remarkable woman who made it her business to solve it. Like the best true crime books, Yellow Bird is about much more than an act of violence. Murdoch’s careful reporting delves into the long legacies of greed and exploitation on the reservation and the oil patch, and also the moments of connection and transcendence that chip away at those systems of power. I can’t stop thinking and talking about this book.
I don’t know a more complicated, original protagonist in literature than Lissa Yellow Bird, or a more dogged reporter in American journalism than Sierra Crane Murdoch.
This book is a detective story, and a good one, that tells what happens when rootless greed collides with rooted culture. But it’s also a classic slice of American history, and a tale of resilience in the face of remarkable trauma. Sierra Crane Murdoch is a patient, careful, and brilliant chronicler of this moment in time, a new voice who will add much to our literature in the years ahead.
In Yellow Bird, oilfield meets reservation, and readers meet a true-to-life Native sleuth unlike any in literature. Sierra Crane Murdoch takes a modest, ignored sort of American life and renders it large, with a murder mystery driving the action. It’s an empathetic, attentive account by a talented writer and listener.
Won from Goodreads Giveaway
I love True Crime, and really wanted to like this book. I just couldn’t. It was so boring. I kept trying to read it and have finally gave up. You may like it, but I don’t.