Reviews tagging 'Racism'

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

236 reviews

joshkiba13's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Terminal illness, Death, and Murder

amberspej's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, and Murder

simmonsj's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

This review is for the audiobook.

The best non-fiction for me are the ones that teach me something while making it an interesting and engrossing story. David Grann does this very well with Killers of the Flower Moon. I knew nothing about the Osage reign of terror in the 1920s (I know there was a movie made as well but also never watched that). The history of the area and people as well as the chilling murders that permeated the reservation were well relayed and amazing to hear about - not in a good way. The racism, prejudices, and loose law keeping were rampant and the effects of that time are still felt today within that culture.

The story flowed well about 90% of the time. There were a few chapters that, while the information was important, I felt the chapters themselves were situated poorly in the book. For example, the story was moving along and then there was a sharp deviation to the history of the area. Wouldn't have been nice for these chapters to be a little earlier so the main events were not split in such an abrupt way.

I listened to the audiobook, and the three narrators were well picked. The first part of the book concerned the Osage - the narrator was a woman that gave weight to their history and present situation. The second part of the book followed a FBI agent, and the narrator really sounded like a seasoned law officer in between the wild west and the beginning of a more orderly law enforcement. The last part concerned Grann's research, and the narrator had an air of an older reporter about him.

Overall I think this is a very impactful, well told story and would recommend to anyone with a desire to learn more about historical events.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Racism

aliciaurbain's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Car accident, Child death, Classism, Murder, Racism, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Death

caroline_123's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Alcoholism, Murder, Racism, and Drug use

caroline_123's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Racism, Death, and Domestic abuse

hanyaya's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Murder, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, and Physical abuse

mjverrall's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious fast-paced

4.0

This book covers a very important piece of history that I would assume most people are undereducated about. It does so in a very approachable and well written way, but it very much centers the white people’s stories—following the white detective, murderers, and suspects in depth at the expense of some of the victims stories. That being said, it is well worth the read as long as you keep that in mind throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Racism, Violence, and Physical abuse

j_hornick's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, and Racism

cghegan's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Hate crime, Gun violence, and Death