Reviews with content warning for Violence - Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

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Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

140 reviews

amberboo61997's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Killers of the Flower Moon is an intense, yet fascinating true-crime historical narrative where David Grann tells the story of the Osage Murders from a straight-forward and almost impartial point of view. The short length of the book may surprise people given the subject matter, but a lot of this tale is tainted with false reports, hearsay, and limited information thus stunting Grann's (and even the FBI's) ability to tell the entire "truth". It also doesn't help that while writing the book Grann uncovered numerous other murders and conspiracies that added onto the insanity of a story that was already riddled with disbelief and purposefully hidden from public knowledge.
I believe the book is a good read even if a common critique is its lack of descriptive details into certain parts or aspects of the subject matter. It's a good introduction if you want to look into American stories hidden or deleted from history by the "winners" and shows how a government organization such as the FBI began and operated on its own self-serving needs.

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meant2breading's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

“History is a merciless judge. It lays bare our tragic blunders and foolish missteps and exposes our most intimate secrets, wielding the power of hindsight like an arrogant detective who seems to know the end of the mystery from the outset.”
The research done by David Grann for this book was of high caliber and was shared to us in a way that felt almost concurrent despite these horrific atrocities taking place a century ago. This book sheds light on the Reign of Terror (the rampant racism, corruption, greed, and the murders of the Osage people by primarily white people). It focuses mainly on the Burkhart family, the investigations involved, and touches on the FBI creation. It seemed Grann intended to respect and honor the Osage community in this book, who we learn will never have restorative justice. We also see a glimpse of the impacts of their generational trauma once all the motivations are clear. Hundreds of families have no closure either and it makes my heart and stomach ache. What a prominent reminder to know our history, especially its abundance of brutality.

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prettiestwhistles's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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aliasinferno's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative sad fast-paced

4.25

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lindsdavis's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious sad fast-paced

5.0

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burnourhistory's review against another edition

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informative sad medium-paced

3.5

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joshkiba13's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious sad slow-paced

4.0

What a tragic story---a real story. I studied and did a project on the Osage nation for school, then saw Scorcese's film Killers of the Flower Moon, which inspired me to read the book. There was so much information; the way Grann was able to stitch everything together into a cohesive story was impressive. Getting to the end and seeing how many people came together to cover up crimes was heartbreaking.

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