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18 reviews for:
The Deaths of Sybil Bolton: Oil, Greed, and Murder on the Osage Reservation
Dennis McAuliffe Jr.
3.76 AVERAGE
18 reviews for:
The Deaths of Sybil Bolton: Oil, Greed, and Murder on the Osage Reservation
Dennis McAuliffe Jr.
3.76 AVERAGE
This was a challenging book to get through. The road was long and windy and I ended up learning or challenging my own perceptions of many things. But I did not learn much about Sybil Bolton. Here's some thoughts broken down vaguely in order of how they occurred in the book.
The Foreword
I was honestly bummed that the person writing the foreword was not Osage but David Grann of "Killers of the Flower Moon" fame. Having a white guy who spent a year following one family's tragedy and then making it big off that tragedy lending his name to establish credibility of a man who used his discovery of being Osage himself in order to try and discover what happened to his grandmother is grating. Having David Grann talk about his own book and then events that took place in his book, not having to do with Sybil Bolton except peripherally for half the foreword, was almost offensive. There was no personal connection to the author or any comment on how his story moved him or inspired him to start his own journey 20 years later with the murders of Osage people. It was a distanced and impersonal five paragraphs.
The Good and the Not So Good
The story itself was sometimes a long rambling stroll from fact, to fiction, to imagination, to indignation, to rants about unrelated topics often without page breaks between paragraphs to let the reader know that we were boarding a bus to a new topic. Several times within a span of three paragraphs I would have to go back and be like...oh we're no longer in the present but an imagining of 1925??? Sometimes within a single section we would go from the present, to the past, to a rant on the "Little House" books to the present, to historical facts about the Osage in the same time period as the "Little House" books, back to the present and it was honestly hard to keep up with a semi-stream of consciousness reading of it all.
I will say though that I learned many things along the way on this journey that I did feel grateful for. One involved the rant about "Little House on the Prairie". I never really gave the books much thought as an adult, but having McAuliffe recontextualize the history of what was actually happening during the books was eye opening. I never knew that the Ingall's were illegally squatting on Osage land, that they built their house, as around 500 other families did at this time on the reservation. He found records of their family not filing a claim since their homestead was listed on Osage land. These settlers would form vigilante groups and incite violence and get the army involved which only benefited white people. McAuliffe makes a point to draw the readers attention to the fact that these books remain wildly popular with children and parents despite anti-Indian slurs, and the painting of Native Americans as barbarians; for other ethnic groups we no longer tolerate such heavy handed racism and yet we all look back on the "Little House" books with nostalgia. Him also bringing up the, "why couldn't Pa hold down a job/homestead" was funny but also like, WHY couldn't he? Why did he leave the family and comfort of a community in Wisconsin to drag his family all around stolen land? Also an interesting tidbit I didn't know is that these books were promoted by the government for showing "positive representations of America" after WWII. I have a new interest in reading these books again through the lens of "the American Spirit" propaganda.
McAuliffe did not hold back any of his hard feelings about his ancestor's treatment, whether by local white people, the Oklahoma courts, the federal government or the FBI. He also did not censor the toll this journey took on him - his spiral into alcoholism as he was researching his grandmother, and his multiple relapses while trying to write the book.
On the flip side, he also did not seem to care about slipping his own racial slur against Black people into this book after railing on about how he didn't like anti-Native slurs to be used against Native Americans. He wondered if his drinking and relationship problems were because he was Osage and used these stereotypes instead of pointing to his white Irish-Catholic background to explain these things instead. He also commented he came to Osage county looking for Indians, but only found white people - despite the fact that anyone looking at him would see a white man with sandy hair, blue eyes and pale skin. All of this showed a stunning lack of self awareness, and a stunning lack of growth on behalf of the author to recontextualize everything he was coming across and learn something.
Despite learning much about the racism behind blood quantums, popular fiction, The Washington Post, the author himself - we don't learn much more than we knew in the first third about Sybil Bolton and her death. The author throws the same conspiracies against the wall throughout the book with no evidence but historical probabilities and hearsay, hoping something will stick and nothing ever does. McAuliffe ends the book contented with the fact that he's gained a place in his tribe, and that he doesn't need to know the specifics of what happened to his 21 year old grandmother. Much like this book was eye opening along the way unexpectedly, so too the author found the journey more important it seems.
The Foreword
I was honestly bummed that the person writing the foreword was not Osage but David Grann of "Killers of the Flower Moon" fame. Having a white guy who spent a year following one family's tragedy and then making it big off that tragedy lending his name to establish credibility of a man who used his discovery of being Osage himself in order to try and discover what happened to his grandmother is grating. Having David Grann talk about his own book and then events that took place in his book, not having to do with Sybil Bolton except peripherally for half the foreword, was almost offensive. There was no personal connection to the author or any comment on how his story moved him or inspired him to start his own journey 20 years later with the murders of Osage people. It was a distanced and impersonal five paragraphs.
The Good and the Not So Good
The story itself was sometimes a long rambling stroll from fact, to fiction, to imagination, to indignation, to rants about unrelated topics often without page breaks between paragraphs to let the reader know that we were boarding a bus to a new topic. Several times within a span of three paragraphs I would have to go back and be like...oh we're no longer in the present but an imagining of 1925??? Sometimes within a single section we would go from the present, to the past, to a rant on the "Little House" books to the present, to historical facts about the Osage in the same time period as the "Little House" books, back to the present and it was honestly hard to keep up with a semi-stream of consciousness reading of it all.
I will say though that I learned many things along the way on this journey that I did feel grateful for. One involved the rant about "Little House on the Prairie". I never really gave the books much thought as an adult, but having McAuliffe recontextualize the history of what was actually happening during the books was eye opening. I never knew that the Ingall's were illegally squatting on Osage land, that they built their house, as around 500 other families did at this time on the reservation. He found records of their family not filing a claim since their homestead was listed on Osage land. These settlers would form vigilante groups and incite violence and get the army involved which only benefited white people. McAuliffe makes a point to draw the readers attention to the fact that these books remain wildly popular with children and parents despite anti-Indian slurs, and the painting of Native Americans as barbarians; for other ethnic groups we no longer tolerate such heavy handed racism and yet we all look back on the "Little House" books with nostalgia. Him also bringing up the, "why couldn't Pa hold down a job/homestead" was funny but also like, WHY couldn't he? Why did he leave the family and comfort of a community in Wisconsin to drag his family all around stolen land? Also an interesting tidbit I didn't know is that these books were promoted by the government for showing "positive representations of America" after WWII. I have a new interest in reading these books again through the lens of "the American Spirit" propaganda.
McAuliffe did not hold back any of his hard feelings about his ancestor's treatment, whether by local white people, the Oklahoma courts, the federal government or the FBI. He also did not censor the toll this journey took on him - his spiral into alcoholism as he was researching his grandmother, and his multiple relapses while trying to write the book.
On the flip side, he also did not seem to care about slipping his own racial slur against Black people into this book after railing on about how he didn't like anti-Native slurs to be used against Native Americans. He wondered if his drinking and relationship problems were because he was Osage and used these stereotypes instead of pointing to his white Irish-Catholic background to explain these things instead. He also commented he came to Osage county looking for Indians, but only found white people - despite the fact that anyone looking at him would see a white man with sandy hair, blue eyes and pale skin. All of this showed a stunning lack of self awareness, and a stunning lack of growth on behalf of the author to recontextualize everything he was coming across and learn something.
Despite learning much about the racism behind blood quantums, popular fiction, The Washington Post, the author himself - we don't learn much more than we knew in the first third about Sybil Bolton and her death. The author throws the same conspiracies against the wall throughout the book with no evidence but historical probabilities and hearsay, hoping something will stick and nothing ever does. McAuliffe ends the book contented with the fact that he's gained a place in his tribe, and that he doesn't need to know the specifics of what happened to his 21 year old grandmother. Much like this book was eye opening along the way unexpectedly, so too the author found the journey more important it seems.
A lovely read about a terrible time in history - a personal story as the author is writing about their own family history. Worth the read (much better than Killers of the Flower Moon).
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
If you read “Killers of the Flower Moon,” you should read this. A much more personal accounting of the crimes committed against the Osage during the Reign of Terror, as explored through the author’s attempt to make sense of his grandmother’s death.
Oof. I have been actively looking for books to expand my knowledge and understanding of Native American history and culture. That was what I was hoping to learn here.
There was plenty of history regarding treaties and land divisions, etc. all of that was informative.
But… things started falling apart for me in the last chapter and epilogue. This search for solving a mystery and finding the truth… ended up with him going to rehab for alcohol abuse and claiming all his pain and suffering truly made him understand that he was Osage.
I am beyond mystified by the conclusions drawn and how absolutely selfish and self-centered this book turned out to be.
While I appreciate learning more about the Osage, the last chapter and epilogue have definitely left a bad taste in my mouth.
3 stars simply for the first half of the book.
There was plenty of history regarding treaties and land divisions, etc. all of that was informative.
But… things started falling apart for me in the last chapter and epilogue. This search for solving a mystery and finding the truth… ended up with him going to rehab for alcohol abuse and claiming all his pain and suffering truly made him understand that he was Osage.
I am beyond mystified by the conclusions drawn and how absolutely selfish and self-centered this book turned out to be.
While I appreciate learning more about the Osage, the last chapter and epilogue have definitely left a bad taste in my mouth.
3 stars simply for the first half of the book.
medium-paced
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
This is the most coherent telling of the story I've read. Skip the movie. Read this book.
This was fascinating. I discovered this book because it was mentioned in David Grann's Killers of the Flower Moon. While I found Flower Moon to be a good read, too, what I loved the most about The Deaths of Sybil Bolton was how much heart is in this story. It's simultaneously a deeply personal family story and a thorough investigation of a shameful period in this country's history. I learned so much, and for weeks and months afterward, I could not stop thinking about Sybil and her family. Highly recommended.