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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
An interesting, and compelling, history of the conspiracy around the murders of the Osage people in the early 1900s, and the eventual involvement of what was to become the FBI in investigating these murders. The events described in the book are shocking, but not really surprising when you consider how much oil the Osage people where sitting on. The book also reveals the rather depressing manner in which the USA government and society treated the tribal people. The writing style is engaging and the mystery unfolds apace.
LOVED THIS! It was so interesting and a great inisight into American history.
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
A very interesting book about how white people could not deal with the fact that a tribe of Indians was getting rich. Everyone including state and nation governments seemed to conspire to deprive the tribe members of their ability to enjoy their oil wealth. Then, locals who had been set up as guardians for tribe members since they "were not competent to handle their money" hatched schemes to kill off tribe members in order to inherit or steal their money. This happened in Oklahoma in the 1920s, the state that gave us the Tulsa massacre. Solving just one or two of the murders seemed to be instrumental in securing Hoover's FBI as a premier law enforcement agency.
The topic was very interesting. The writing was just so-so.
The topic was very interesting. The writing was just so-so.
medium-paced
dark
emotional
informative
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Violence
I would have avoided this if I'd been paying any attention to who the author was when I grabbed it from the library. I found The Lost City of Z unreadable when I tried it a few years ago; I don't give a fuck about Grann's experiences researching his books, and he seems to be unable to write anything without injecting himself. I don't care to hear about the filing system in your office, sir, nor do I enjoy faux-profundities such as "[the National Archive] is a testament to humanity's need to document everything" (I don't even know where to begin with this stupid sentence). There's only a very tangential connection to the "birth" of the FBI in this, so the title is misleading, and I feel gross and manipulated when he describes the descendants of murder victims sobbing on the phone to him.
This just isn't my thing.
This just isn't my thing.
So well written. If you like true crime, you need to know about the Osage murders.
dark
informative
medium-paced
This look was so well written. I enjoyed every minute.
informative
mysterious
medium-paced