Thank you Doubleday #partner, for the finished copy of Killers of the Flower Moon in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Doubleday (Paperback movie tie-in version – Vintage)
Published: October 10, 2023 (Originally Published April 2017)
Summary:
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 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 this 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.
My thoughts:
This is a book I’ve been meaning to read for quite some time but never got around to it. I was fortunate that the publisher reached out to me, not only offering me a copy of the book, but also inviting me to a screening of the movie which was just released. Due to a scheduling conflict I was unable to go, plus I definitely wanted to read the book first and I’m glad I did…now I know what I’m in for when I finally do go see the movie.
This is the type of nonfiction I love to read, the type that doesn’t read like nonfiction at all. This one reads like a thriller and while it is based on a true story, it is a fascinating account that is also shocking, unsettling, and downright disturbing, and I found myself completely gripped by what I was reading. I can’t believe how much of this I did not know. Why is that? Why was none of this taught in school? I felt such a range of emotions while reading this, most especially anger to all that was being done to the Osage people on their land.
What this book managed to do was peel back the layers on why so many members of the Osage Tribe were killed…and that is quite infuriating. David Grann takes us through this while also showing how the FBI came to be as this case was the very first case it investigated.
As hard and upsetting as this book was to read at times, I’m glad I finally got to it. It’s a must-read and one that I know I won’t be forgetting anytime soon.
