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A review by jhbandcats
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Gore, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Abandonment, Blood, and Child death