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

This has been on my TBR for years and I finally prioritized this read this before the movie came out.

This was a hard read for a number of reasons:
1/ The treatment of the Osage was atrocious and appalling
2/ The book centers the white narrative as both the villains and the saviors and the
3/ Most of the book lacks context and only fills in relevant elements of centuries of genocide, land grabs, and numerous other atrocities where the author thought they made sense

For me, too much context can be annoying, but in this case it only served to further center the white narrative and I found that frustrating. The story was still interesting and compelling to read, but I will be reading native voices on this topic to understand the complete picture.

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dev921's review

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dark informative fast-paced

5.0

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phob's review

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Probably the best book I’ve ever read

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thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition

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dark informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This case is completely insane and so so heartbreaking. I think non fiction like this is always at risk of being super dry and boring, but Grann tells the story beautifully.

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jhbandcats's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

David Grann is one of our greatest nonfiction authors alive. Every topic he chooses is brought to life no matter how many years have passed since the events took place. His writing is smooth and unobtrusive, describing the past in a matter-of-fact, approachable way. If history books had been like this in high school, we’d all have gone on to be scholars.

Killers of the Flower Moon is an especially difficult book to read, not because of the writing but because the subject is so painful. Grann documents how literally hundreds of Osage were murdered for riches in the early 20th C. As American Indians, their lives were worth less than that of dogs. An entire corrupt and venal society was arrayed against them. Well aware they were systematically being murdered, they had no recourse. The authorities, both political and legal, were complicit in the murders. No one would help save them from eradication.

This is an excellent telling of a dark and shameful time in our history. If only this much attention had been paid a hundred years ago some of the Osage who were murdered might have lived.

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imfixintoread's review

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challenging dark informative mysterious sad medium-paced

5.0

Grann did a fantastic job researching this book. It was hard to keep up with all the names, so I was grateful for that section at the end of the book to reference. It was so difficult to digest all that happened and yet Grann wrote in a way that made it straightforward. Truly a gut-wrenching part of American history.

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tiffyd's review

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

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