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Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
3 reviews
hannxm's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
I could not put this book down. I was hooked from the first chapter. It read like a murder mystery, except it really happened which makes it so chilling. Not to mention the many photographs throughout the book that bring the time period, the settings, victims and perpetrators to life.
The story goes as follows: white men forced the Osage out of their fertile lands to hilly and rocky land that I assume the white men thought would eventually lead to their deaths from starvation. But in a wonderful twist of fate, the land the Osage had been forcibly moved to was riddled with oil; black gold. With thanks to an Osage chief, they were able to have some level of control over their land and their oil, leading to the Osage becoming extremely wealthy, and, most importantly, their headrights could only be inherited, not bought. Well, you can imagine how pissed off the greedy white settlers were! If murdering them, starving them, controlling them, and moving them off their land over many decades wasn't enough, they now wanted their oil and their riches. Subsequently it led to the murders of countless members of the Osage tribe, with murders believed to have happened years before and after the Reign of Terror is said to have happened (the focus of the book and movie), resulting in a suspected death toll into the hundreds. Many of which were never investigated or not ruled a homicide.
Grann has written this book so wonderfully, I found it really easy to follow as Grann reminds you who people are throughout which I found so helpful. After reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a book full of names and very few (if at all) reminders to help you remember the countless people mentioned, this felt like a breeze to read. I wouldn't recommend listening to this though; you might find yourself having to go back to reread sections at times to fully grasp the craziness.
Sadly, and irritatingly, I'd never heard of the Osage murders or the Reign of Terror as it's sometimes known. I think it's pretty evident as to why that's the case. I love and thank authors that bring these cases to the light of day, defying the powers that once had control over the narrative.
As the mystery unfolded, not knowing who the culprit(s) was, my jaw kept hitting the floor the more things unravelled. It is infuriating and shocking how greedy, heartless and conniving these murderous men were. The main culprit was a self centred cocky bastard right to the very end. Some continued to plot how to get more money whilst already in prison for murder. Like what?!
I'm booked into watch the film soon, finally! But if you've already watched the film, I would still recommend reading this book as Grann includes so many photos, including of Pawhuska and living relatives of the victims. He shares interviews with living relatives and information that hasn't been spoken of before. He discusses a few murders before and after the Reign of Terror and attempts to solve an additional unsolved murder case! He also shares information about what Pawhuska and Fairfax are like now; the remnants of the buildings that are left as well as the masses of graves that paint a grim picture of the past, the Osages current struggles and their views on what happened and how it's affected them.
Grann did a tremendous amount of work for this book. If you were captivated by the film and the story, you'll only get more out of this book.
The story goes as follows: white men forced the Osage out of their fertile lands to hilly and rocky land that I assume the white men thought would eventually lead to their deaths from starvation. But in a wonderful twist of fate, the land the Osage had been forcibly moved to was riddled with oil; black gold. With thanks to an Osage chief, they were able to have some level of control over their land and their oil, leading to the Osage becoming extremely wealthy, and, most importantly, their headrights could only be inherited, not bought. Well, you can imagine how pissed off the greedy white settlers were! If murdering them, starving them, controlling them, and moving them off their land over many decades wasn't enough, they now wanted their oil and their riches. Subsequently it led to the murders of countless members of the Osage tribe, with murders believed to have happened years before and after the Reign of Terror is said to have happened (the focus of the book and movie), resulting in a suspected death toll into the hundreds. Many of which were never investigated or not ruled a homicide.
Grann has written this book so wonderfully, I found it really easy to follow as Grann reminds you who people are throughout which I found so helpful. After reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a book full of names and very few (if at all) reminders to help you remember the countless people mentioned, this felt like a breeze to read. I wouldn't recommend listening to this though; you might find yourself having to go back to reread sections at times to fully grasp the craziness.
Sadly, and irritatingly, I'd never heard of the Osage murders or the Reign of Terror as it's sometimes known. I think it's pretty evident as to why that's the case. I love and thank authors that bring these cases to the light of day, defying the powers that once had control over the narrative.
As the mystery unfolded, not knowing who the culprit(s) was, my jaw kept hitting the floor the more things unravelled. It is infuriating and shocking how greedy, heartless and conniving these murderous men were. The main culprit was a self centred cocky bastard right to the very end. Some continued to plot how to get more money whilst already in prison for murder. Like what?!
I'm booked into watch the film soon, finally! But if you've already watched the film, I would still recommend reading this book as Grann includes so many photos, including of Pawhuska and living relatives of the victims. He shares interviews with living relatives and information that hasn't been spoken of before. He discusses a few murders before and after the Reign of Terror and attempts to solve an additional unsolved murder case! He also shares information about what Pawhuska and Fairfax are like now; the remnants of the buildings that are left as well as the masses of graves that paint a grim picture of the past, the Osages current struggles and their views on what happened and how it's affected them.
Grann did a tremendous amount of work for this book. If you were captivated by the film and the story, you'll only get more out of this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Genocide, Murder, and Body horror
Moderate: Racism, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Hate crime, Medical content, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Racial slurs, and Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Kidnapping
oyveyitskay's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty
greatexpectations77's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.75
Y'all WHAT. How did I never hear about this??? (Which is rhetorical because obviously the essentially genocide of the Osage would of course not be covered in my white history classes.) I'll definitely be revisiting this book because a lot of the sentiment toward Native people still exist today and we need to be much more aware of the total destruction that racism can cause. God. If this was a novel, I would have a hard time believing it. It's that intricate and horrific.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Murder, Alcohol, Misogyny, Chronic illness, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Child death, Stalking, Addiction, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Medical content, Alcoholism, and Car accident
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