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Summary and Reviews of Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

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Killers of the Flower Moon

The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

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• Apr 18, 2017, 352 pages
• Apr 2018, 352 pages

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• Midwest, USA
• Ark. La. Ok.
• Early 20th Century
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Book summary.

Winner of the 2017 BookBrowse Nonfiction Award A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history.

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances. In this last remnant of the Wild West - where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes like Al Spencer, the "Phantom Terror," roamed - many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll climbed to more than twenty-four, the FBI took up the case. It was one of the organization's first major homicide investigations and the bureau badly bungled the case. In desperation, the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only American Indian agents in the bureau. The agents infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest techniques of detection.  Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.  In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. Based on years of research and startling new evidence, the book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward American Indians that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long. Killers of the Flower Moon is utterly compelling, but also emotionally devastating.

Chapter 1 The Vanishing

In April, millions of tiny flowers spread over the blackjack hills and vast prairies in the Osage territory of Oklahoma. There are Johnny-­jump-­ups and spring beauties and little bluets. The Osage writer John Joseph Mathews observed that the galaxy of petals makes it look as if the "gods had left confetti." In May, when coyotes howl beneath an unnervingly large moon, taller plants, such as spiderworts and black-­eyed Susans, begin to creep over the tinier blooms, stealing their light and water. The necks of the smaller flowers break and their petals flutter away, and before long they are buried underground. This is why the Osage Indians refer to May as the time of the flower-­killing moon. On May 24, 1921, Mollie Burkhart, a resident of the Osage settlement town of Gray Horse, Oklahoma, began to fear that something had happened to one of her three sisters, Anna Brown. Thirty-­four, and less than a year older than Mollie, Anna had ...

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Grann's shock at discovering that the murder plots against the Osage might have gone far beyond those outlined in the trial – and his zeal for discovering the parties responsible for the dozens of unprosecuted murders – makes Killers of the Flower Moon more entertaining than a book about such a dire subject should be. He seems driven to amend the historical record, to prosecute, even from the distance of several generations of history, those responsible for the deaths of these now-forgotten victims. Grann's powerful narrative resurrects a bitterly important chapter in American history, suggesting that the trail of tears doesn't have to lead to a dead end... continued

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(Reviewed by James Broderick ).

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Dramatic and Moral Ambitions Clash in “Killers of the Flower Moon”

For fans of James Dean, nothing beats the moment in “Giant” (1956) when an oil well erupts. Dean raises his arms and bathes in the rich rain. Clocking in at three hours and twenty-one minutes, “Giant” chimes with Martin Scorsese’s latest movie, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which, not to be outdone, is five minutes longer still. In an extraordinary sequence, near the start, we see men of the Osage Nation, stripped to the waist, dancing in slow motion, and in unfeigned joy, as a shower of oil falls upon them. It may be the one happy vision in the entire film. From here on, oil will take second place to another precious commodity that gushes with the aid of human know-how. There will be blood.

Written by Scorsese and Eric Roth, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is adapted from the nonfiction book of the same title by David Grann, a staff writer at this magazine. Grann explores the quest for oil under Osage country, in Oklahoma, in the springtime of the twentieth century, and the auctions at which leases for drilling were purchased from Osage landowners. (A single lease could cost more than a million dollars.) In 1920, one reporter, describing the newfound Osage wealth, proclaimed, “Something will have to be done about it.” What was done is soon revealed in the film, as vintage stills of the Osage, posed in their finery or in resplendent automobiles, make way for other images, composed by Scorsese with equal calm: dead bodies of the Osage, viewed from above, laid out on their beds. A voice-over gives their names and their ages, adding, “No investigation.” If they are being murdered, nobody seems to mind.

Grann ranges wider, in time and in territory, than Scorsese is able to do. The book arrives at the dire proposition that there was “a culture of killing,” with Osage victims numbering in the hundreds, many of them missing from official estimates. As often as not, they were slain for their “headrights,” shares in the mineral trust of the tribe. (Were an Osage woman to meet with an unfortunate accident, or succumb to a puzzling illness, her rights would pass to her nearest and dearest—a grieving white husband, say.) Grann homes in on a bunch of characters in and around the towns of Gray Horse and Fairfax, and Scorsese does the same. We meet an elderly Osage widow named Lizzie (Tantoo Cardinal) and her daughters, Mollie (Lily Gladstone), Minnie (Jillian Dion), Rita (Janae Collins), and Anna (Cara Jade Myers). Then, there is William Hale (Robert De Niro), a cattle owner, prosperous and genial; he cultivates warm relations with the Osage and speaks their language. No one could accuse him of modesty. “Call me King,” he declares. Hale has a nephew, Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), who is not long back from the First World War. He served with distinction as a cook.

You may be wondering who, of all these folk, will be the lodestone. For Grann, it’s Tom White, who, in 1925, was sent by J. Edgar Hoover, of the Bureau of Investigation (the forerunner of the F.B.I.), to delve into the Osage deaths. White cuts a genuinely heroic figure, upright and just, and his sleuthing guides us surely through the skeins of evidence. He shows up in the movie, too, but not for a long while, and—although he’s well played, with a courteous tenacity, by Jesse Plemons—in no way does he bind events together onscreen as he does on the page. Instead, bewilderingly, it is Ernest Burkhart whose fortunes we are invited to follow. Huh? This dumb dolt, with bran for brains? Why should he take center stage?

Early in the film, Burkhart has a talk with his uncle, who asks whether he is fond of women. “That’s my weakness,” Burkhart replies. “You like red?” Hale inquires, and we realize that he wants to marry Burkhart off to an Osage woman, like an aunt in Jane Austen trying to hitch an unpromising nephew to a local heiress. The slight difference is that very few aunts in Regency England, as a rule, arranged to have notable persons bumped off with poisoned hooch or shot in the back of the head. Hale doesn’t merely hope for Osage lucre in the long run; he wants it now, by whatever means necessary. “If you’re going to make trouble,” he says, “make it big.” Everything to come is foretold in this conversation. Burkhart does indeed court Mollie and make her his wife, to the satisfaction of his scheming uncle and to the detriment, I would argue, of suspense. Somehow the very appearance of De Niro, in a Scorsese film, is enough to give away the plot.

The loyalty of directors to their actors is a noble trait, and often a highly productive one. Think of the troupe that rotated around Ingmar Bergman, shifting between major and minor stints; in 1957, Max von Sydow was a medieval knight, bestriding “The Seventh Seal,” and then a gas-station attendant, in “Wild Strawberries.” No less faithful, Scorsese (who used von Sydow in 2010, in “Shutter Island”) has turned repeatedly to De Niro and DiCaprio, and some of the results have been stupendous.

DiCaprio, however, is a curious specimen. The more agonized the roles into which Scorsese has plunged him, in films like “Gangs of New York” (2002) and “The Departed” (2006), the less DiCaprio has been at liberty to flourish his prime asset—namely, his boyishness. He strikes me as a perennial kid, adrift in a land of grownups, and only truly at ease when he can lark around. That’s why his best and his most believable performance was back in 2002, in “Catch Me if You Can,” directed by Steven Spielberg, whose casting eye is unrivalled, and who spied the essential lightness in DiCaprio. Scorsese, on the other hand, has strained to drag him into the dark. If their happiest collaboration is in “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013), it is because, for once, the actor’s puckish vagaries are not reined in. Scorsese loosens the leash.

I would love to report that DiCaprio is rejuvenated by “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Sadly not. He does get to banter with De Niro, during a car ride, but listen to the topic under discussion: the killing of an Osage man, Henry Roan (William Belleau), which was meant to resemble a suicide but went awry. We can’t help laughing along with Hale and Burkhart, as if they were two goons in a Scorsese Mob movie; meanwhile, the thought of poor Roan gets lost in the mix. Such is the dilemma that weighs upon this film. Although its moral ambition is to honor the tribulations of an Indigenous people, it keeps getting pulled back into the orbit—emotional, social, and eventually legal—of white men. Mollie is diabetic, and Burkhart gradually suspects that the insulin injections he is giving her may be doctored; yet the focus remains more on his clenched and frowning perplexity than on her wasting away.

More than once, Mollie refers to herself as “incompetent.” This is not a joke but a formal term, which the film, for some reason, never bothers to define; many Osage were considered ill-suited to handling their own funds, which had to be administered by a white guardian. Yet it is a joke, as dark as oil, because Lily Gladstone, as Mollie, is unmistakably the most compelling presence in the movie. Her gait is dignified and unrushed, her humor is vented in a high and lovely yelp, and her smile is deliciously knowing and slow—so knowing, in fact, that it’s hard to imagine what Mollie sees in Burkhart, whom she calls a coyote. It’s not as if she’s blind to his basic motive. “Coyote wants money,” she says. All of her sisters make their mark; Myers, especially, does a wonderful job as Anna, who is handsome, wanton, fiery, and fatally drawn to the bottle. But Mollie is at the core of the family, and Scorsese, to be fair, does her proud with a scene in which a crowd of onlookers, gathered near a corpse that has been found by a river, parts in silent respect to let Mollie through. The camera takes the part of the bereaved.

If you relish that kind of staging—people being shifted, smoothly or brutally, around the frame, the better to boost the narrative sway—then Scorsese, aged eighty, is still the guy you need. Check out the sequence, for example, in which a wanted man is arrested. He sits in a barber’s chair, in the foreground; when lawmen enter from the street, behind him, we notice them well before he does. Even as they draw close, he stays put, making no effort to scuffle or scarper, and that simple quiescence proves that his hour of reckoning comes as no surprise. Hell, it might just be a relief.

“Killers of the Flower Moon” is rife with such passages of action and inaction, in tune with its symphonic stateliness. Themes of oppression, vengeance, and resistance are developed and recapitulated throughout, and there’s also a strange coda, in which Scorsese himself turns up. He plays an announcer on an old-school radio drama, which retells the saga of the Osage murders, complete with cheesy sound effects. Needless to say, the heroes of the show are Hoover’s boys from the Bureau. Is Scorsese claiming that, in contrast to this low-rent travesty, he has reclaimed the original terrors of the case; or is he, more humbly, confessing that his film is just one more version of a tragedy that can never be fully fathomed or explained? Next time, perhaps, an Osage voice will tell the tale anew. ♦

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Scorsese centers men and their violence once again in 'Killers of the Flower Moon'

Justin Chang

Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon. Apple TV+ hide caption

Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon.

Martin Scorsese 's Killers of the Flower Moon mostly unfolds in the 1920s, when some of the richest people in America were members of the Osage Nation in northeast Oklahoma. Having discovered oil beneath their land years earlier, the Osage live in beautiful homes, own expensive cars and employ white servants.

As in his earlier period dramas, like The Age of Innocence and Gangs of New York , Scorsese brings a highly specific bygone era to vivid life. But this story of enviable wealth is also one of exploitation. The Osage don't control their money; the U.S. government has assigned them white guardians to oversee their finances. Many Osage women are married to white men, who are clearly eyeing their wives' fortunes.

'Of course we should be here': 'Flower Moon' receives a 9-minute ovation at Cannes

The movie, adapted from David Grann 's 2017 book , is structured around one of these marriages. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, a handsome, slightly feckless World War I veteran. He's come to Oklahoma to live with his uncle, William K. Hale, a wealthy cattle rancher and beloved community pillar played by Robert De Niro. Soon Ernest finds work as a driver for Mollie Kyle, a quietly steely Osage woman played by Lily Gladstone, whom you may recognize from the series Reservation Dogs and movies like Certain Women .

Ernest is a flirt, and while she initially resists his advances, Mollie eventually falls for him. They marry in a visually stunning wedding sequence that shows the panoramic sweep of Rodrigo Prieto's cinematography and the exquisite detail of Jacqueline West's costumes. But even as they settle down and start a family, Mollie begins to lose hers. Her mother and sister succumb to a mysterious illness. Another sister is found shot to death in the woods. Many more Osage victims turn up, suggesting an intricate criminal conspiracy at work.

Largely Forgotten Osage Murders Reveal A Conspiracy Against Wealthy Native Americans

Grann's book unraveled that conspiracy gradually, through the eyes of Tom White, a dogged investigator for the FBI; he's played here, very well, by Jesse Plemons. But the movie diminishes his role considerably and reveals what's going on pretty much from the start: White men are systematically murdering the Osage for their headrights, their legal claims to this oil-rich land.

What's so unsettling is not just the ruthlessness but the patience of this scheme; whoever's plotting these chess moves, arranging marriages, devising murders and controlling who inherits headrights, is playing a very long and elaborate game. Killers of the Flower Moon is very long itself at three-and-a-half hours, but it's also continually gripping; Scorsese and his editor Thelma Schoonmaker are masters of the slow burn.

Planet Money

Blood, oil, and the osage nation: the battle over headrights.

Whatever's going on, it's clear that De Niro's Hale is at the center of the mystery — not just because of the cunning twinkle in his eye, but also because he bears the darkly iconic weight of the actor's past roles in GoodFellas , Cape Fear, The Irishman and other Scorsese dramas.

DiCaprio, also a Scorsese veteran, is equally good as Hale's gullible lackey, who gets drawn into this cold-blooded plot. When Mollie falls very ill, a chill runs through the entire picture: Could Ernest really be killing the mother of his children, a woman he genuinely seems to love?

Mollie herself doesn't know what to think. Gladstone's captivating performance makes you feel her turmoil, as well as her unrelenting grief as her family members keep dying.

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Scorsese wants to honor those victims, and to show how they fit into the long, brutal history of Native American displacement and death. After spending decades exploring America's mean streets, he's addressing the country's original sin. Much of the pre-release buzz has focused on the care that he took, working with Osage consultants to present an authentic depiction of Indigenous life. Even so, some have asked whether a white man should be telling this story — a question that Scorsese seems to acknowledge in one powerfully self-implicating scene.

To my eyes, the movie does have a framing problem, but it's mainly because of its jumble of perspectives. Scorsese gives just enough attention to Mollie and the other Osage characters that I wish he'd centered them even more. But the movie's true interest seems to lie elsewhere. Killers of the Flower Moon may be a fresh departure for Scorsese, but it also finds him on perhaps too-familiar terrain, transfixed as ever by the violence that men do and the trauma that they leave behind.

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Book Review: Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

From New Yorker staff writer David Grann, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Lost City of Z, a twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, they began to be killed off. One Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, watched as her family was murdered. Her older sister was shot. Her mother was then slowly poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances. In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes such as Al Spencer, “the Phantom Terror,” roamed – virtually anyone who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly created F.B.I. took up the case, in what became one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations. But the bureau was then notoriously corrupt and initially bungled the case. Eventually the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only Native American agents in the bureau. They infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest modern techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most sinister conspiracies in American history. In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. The book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward Native Americans that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long. Killers of the Flower Moon is utterly riveting, but also emotionally devastating.

It seems we’ll never run out of shameful chapters from America’s past. In Killers of the Flower Moon , writer David Grann explores the “Reign of Terror” waged against the Osage tribe in Oklahoma during the 1920s. The murder epidemic itself is horrifying, and so too are the years that came before in Osage history. For starters, when the Osage were forced off of their previously held land, they ended up settling in a rocky area of Oklahoma clearly unsuited for farming, feeling that it would be a stable home since the land was worthless and wouldn’t be taken over by white men. The irony, of course, is that under the land were undiscovered oil deposits that would soon turn the Osage into millionaires.

The members of the Osage tribe were allotted “headrights” — basically, a share of the oil and mineral ownership — and these headrights could not be sold, only passed on through family members. At the same time, the government considered the Native Americans incapable of managing their own affairs, and adult Osage who were deemed incompetent (and most were) were required to have white guardians to manage their money.

As we see in Killers of the Flower Moon , there was a lot to be gained by finding ways to either manipulate the Osage through shady business dealings and corrupt guardianships, or more directly, by murder. Mollie Burkhart is the initial focus of the book, and we see as her entire family is wiped out, one at a time, through violent murder or insidious poisonings. Between the crimes themselves and the bungling and corruption of the investigation, Mollie and her tribe lived in terror and with a very real threat hanging over their heads.

Part I of the book explores the crimes, and Part II traces the involvement of the Bureau of Investigation (forerunner of the FBI), as well as the early stages of the Bureau’s investigative approach and its evolution under J. Edgar Hoover. We see the lawmen tasked with investigating the murders, and follow them all the way through to the eventual arrests and convictions of the men involved. In Part III, the author describes his research and what he uncovered in historical archives, through which he finally unearthed evidence that helped some descendants of the victims find a sense of resolution.

The subject matter of Killers of the Flower Moon is fascinating and very, very disturbing. However, I did find myself losing interest at various points, especially in Part II, as the sections about the Bureau and its processes just didn’t grab me as much as the parts focusing on the Osage tribe members and their experiences. I also wished that I’d felt a more personal connection to some of the people involved. While we learn what happened to Mollie and her family, Mollie herself often seems unknowable. Granted, this is history, not a dramatization, but I still wish there was some way to get more of a glimpse beneath the individuals’ surfaces.

I recognize too that my lack of interest or focus in certain parts of the story may say more about me as a reader than about the actual book itself. I can be easily distracted when reading non-fiction, and I might not have always been in the right frame of mind to truly appreciate what I was reading.

That said, I do feel that Killers of the Flower Moon is a powerful and compelling book. It’s astonishing to me that the history of the Osage in Oklahoma isn’t better known, and I’m sure that this book will change that. (I understand that a film version is planned, and will be a Martin Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio venture — something to look forward to!)

Even people (like me) who tend not to read a lot of non-fiction will find themselves absorbed by the story once they pick up Killers of the Flower Moon . Highly recommended.

For more on the movie, go here . To read the New York Times review of the book, go here .

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI Author: David Grann Publisher: Doubleday Publication date: April 18, 2017 Length: 320 pages Genre: Non-fiction/true crime Source: Library

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6 thoughts on “ book review: killers of the flower moon by david grann ”.

Didn’t Linda Hogan write a novel about these same events? “Mean Spirits” In on my TBR (I plan to read it soon). Maybe you’ll find more connection there.

Interesting — thanks for the suggestion! I’ll check it out.

Hmm…I might read this one next year. I was looking up true crime books on Goodreads for the Book Riot 2018 reading challenge when your link there lead me to your review here. Good one.

Definitely worth reading!

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Reading Ladies

Killers of the flower moon [book review].

February 9, 2018

true crime….cruel and incomprehensible racial injustice…greed…

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

Genre/categories: Nonfiction, True Crime, Native American, U.S. History, Racial Injustice, Osage

***This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Killers of the Flower Moon is a true-crime murder mystery involving the wealthy Osage Indian Nation of Oklahoma in the 1920s. After oil was discovered beneath the wasteland that they had been forced to live on, the Osage became extremely rich. However, one by one, members of the Osage began to die under suspicious circumstances, or as some believed to be killed off. To introduce readers to this community and the crime, the author closely follows the story of Mollie Burkhart and her family.  It was dangerous to investigate the murders because investigators could also die under mysterious circumstances. As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly formed F.B.I. took up the case.  The F.B.I also experienced difficulty in the investigation until J. Edgar Hoover enlisted Tom White, a former Texas Ranger, to form an undercover team to unravel the mystery. White’s team (which included a Native American) infiltrated the region and employed the latest modern techniques of investigation. This story tells whether or not they were able to expose one of the most monstrous and heinous crimes in American history.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER   –  NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST  –  AMAZON EDITORS’ PICK FOR THE BEST BOOK OF 2017   –  GOODREADS RUNNER UP IN BEST HISTORY/BIOGRAPHY CATEGORY FOR 2017

Amazon Rating (February): 4.6 Stars

My Thoughts:

Structure: True crime isn’t my preferred genre and Killers of the Flower Moon is dense with detail;  however, I found the true account compelling overall and especially as I focused on the fascinating character of Tom White, an unsung hero. The story is structured in three parts: first, we are introduced to Mollie Burkhart and readers become acquainted with her inheritance and wealth, her family, the crimes, and the principal players in the community; second, we follow the F.B.I.’s attempts in the investigation, we learn about the intrigue and corruption, and in particular we meet F.B.I. agent Tom White;  last, the story ends from a reporter’s perspective (Grann’s)  as he attempts additional research and demonstrates that the crime that White uncovered was really just the tip of the iceberg.  Lest one assumes that Tom White is merely a “white savior” as some reviewers have mentioned, Grann makes it clear that the combination of widespread corruption and the powerless Osage required a white person to take on the white system.

Unforgettable Character: In particular, I enjoyed the exploration into the character of Tom White. For taking on an extremely high-profile and dangerous assignment, he was rather soft-spoken, nonviolent, fair, trustworthy, and humble. His good character is in stark contrast to the character traits of the corrupt community authorities. Bravely and courageously, he conducted a most difficult investigation, one that would greatly enhance the reputation of the F.B.I. if solved. Later in White’s career when he was the head of the prison that took in the prisoners that were convicted in the Osage murders, he shook their hands and welcomed them to the prison and insisted that they were to be treated fairly.  In addition, when the person who murdered his own brother was admitted to the prison, White never mentioned his presence to anyone. White wanted every prisoner to be treated equally and fairly. A humble man who didn’t seek the limelight, it is unfortunate that White was never properly recognized publicly for the important contributions he made to the Osage case.

Voice: It’s unfortunate that the white culture hasn’t listened to or heard the Osage Nation, and credit is given to David Grann for hearing their voice and telling this well-researched story that documents the crimes against the Osage and includes interviews with many in the Osage community. I wish that the first part of the story could have been told from an authentic Osage perspective. I think if the Osage could tell their own story, it would help them find a stronger voice. Perhaps co-authoring might have worked well for this book.

Reading Tip: My husband experienced reading this on audible and found the second narrator the most compelling and enjoyable of the three. He wished the entire story had been told by this second narrator. So if you purchase Killers of the Flower Moon through audible and are not enthralled with the first narrator, the second is much better (in his opinion).

Recommended . Killers of the Flower Moon is highly recommended for readers who love the true crime genre, for readers who want to further explore the topic of racial injustice as it affects Native Americans, for those who enjoy reading about historical events, and for readers who are looking for compelling, thought-provoking, narrative nonfiction.

Own Voices: If you are an own voices reviewer, please leave your review link in the comments.

My Rating: 4 Stars

Killer of the Flower Moon Information Here

Meet the Author, David Grann

His first book, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, became a #1 New York Times bestseller and has been translated into more than twenty-five languages. Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, the book was chosen as one of the best books of 2009 by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, Bloomberg, Publishers Weekly, and the Christian Science Monitor, and it also won the Indies Choice award for the best nonfiction book of that year.

Grann’s other book, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, contains many of his New Yorker stories, and was named by Men’s Journal one of the best true crime books ever written. The stories in the collection focus on everything from the mysterious death of the world’s greatest Sherlock Holmes expert to a Polish writer who might have left clues to a real murder in his postmodern novel. Another piece, “Trial by Fire,” exposed how junk science led to the execution of a likely innocent man in Texas. The story received a George Polk award for outstanding journalism and a Silver Gavel award for fostering the public’s understanding of the justice system. His stories have also been a source of material for feature films. “Old Man and the Gun”—which is in The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, and is about an aging stick-up man and prison escape artist—is slated to be directed by David Lowery and to star Robert Redford.

Over the years, Grann’s stories have appeared in The Best American Crime Writing; The Best American Sports Writing; and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. He has previously written for the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic.

Before joining The New Yorker in 2003, Grann was a senior editor at The New Republic, and, from 1995 until 1996, the executive editor of the newspaper The Hill. He holds master’s degrees in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy as well as in creative writing from Boston University. After graduating from Connecticut College in 1989, he received a Thomas Watson Fellowship and did research in Mexico, where he began his career in journalism.

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I’m planning a review of this ARC (advanced reader’s copy) next week:

A Way Out: A Memoir of Conquering Depression and Social Anxiety by Michelle Balge

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I’m continuing to read Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilde r by Caroline Fraser  (from my 2018 TBR ).

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My TBR and the BUZZ

I’m noticing lots of buzz (great reviews) lately about three books (all Book of the Month Club selections):  The Music Shop  by Rachel Joyce,  The Great Alone  by Kristin Hannah (author of The Nightingale), and As Bright as Heaven by Susan Meissner. I’m adding them to the top of my TBR, so look for reviews soon!

I also just heard that  Louise Penny  ( Inspector Gamache series ) will be releasing a new installment in November of this year! (no title or cover yet) #meetmeinthreepines #threepinesgeek available for preorder

Modern Mrs. Darcy published a list of   25 Must-Read Classics for Women. How many have you read?

If you’re looking for Christian fiction, check out this post from The Caffeinated Bibliophile: Eight Christian Romance Books to Read for Valentine’s Day.

There’s still time to read or reread  Wrinkle in Time  before the  movie release on March 9. Will you be seeing the movie?

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16 comments.

[…] 4 Stars Review Comment:  A compelling and sad true crime retelling (U.S. Native American […]

[…] Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (Crimes against Native American people) […]

[…] Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann […]

[…] Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann 4 Stars […]

[…] Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (my review here) […]

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

[…] Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David  Grann (My review here) […]

[…] Continue here for my full review of Killers of the Flower Moon … […]

[…] ***UPDATE: 4 Stars. My review of Killers of the Flower Moon here. […]

[…] to read some history books. My favorites are ones that are written in a narrative format such as Killers of the Flower Moon, The Only Plane in the Sky, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and The Warmth of Other Suns. […]

[…] like the Inspector Gamache/Three Pines series and The Dry (both crime fiction) and I did appreciate Killers of the Flower Moon (true […]

[…] The Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley paired withKillers of the Flower Moon by David Grann […]

[…] (My review of Killers of the Flower Moon here) […]

[…] Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann The Day the World Came to Town by Jim Defede The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson (part narrative nonfiction, part historical essay) […]

[…] Killers of the Flower Moon by David GrannThe Day the World Came to Town by Jim DefedeThe Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. GraffUnbroken by Laura HillenbrandThe Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson (part narrative nonfiction, part historical essay) […]

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Jennifer Hijazi Jennifer Hijazi

• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/poetry/this-osage-writer-remembers-one-of-the-first-victims-of-infamous-reign-of-terror

This Osage writer remembers one of the first victims of infamous ‘reign of terror’

Spoiler alert: If you’re reading David Grann’s book “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI” as part of the PBS NewsHour and New York Times’ Now Read This book club, this post contains details about the killers. Stop reading if you want to keep it a mystery.

Elise Paschen’s poem “Wi’-gi-e,” came to her so fast, she had to scribble down the words on the back of a magazine before they slipped away. Named for the Osage word meaning ‘prayer,’ the poem was Paschen ’s way of tapping into a tragedy to which she feels intimately linked.

“I’ve always been very closely connected to that side of my family, to my Osage heritage, to Oklahoma in particular,” she said. “And as someone who is a writer, I’ve also been very fascinated with Osage history.”

The piece speaks through the voice of Mollie Burkhart, sister of Anna Kyle Brown, the first victim in the “Osage reign of terror” that swept through the Native American community of Fairfax, Oklahoma, in the 1920s.

Brown’s body was found at the bottom of a ravine by hunters in May of 1921. While the coroner blamed her death on “whiskey poisoning,” the mysterious circumstances surrounding her death was one of the events that would lead investigators to discover a string of murders.

Members of the Osage tribe became overnight millionaires when oil was discovered on their land in Osage County. White men, looking to acquire that Osage wealth, conspired with local law enforcement, doctors, coroners and reporters to carry out the murders of 24 Osage tribal members . William Hale, trusted rancher and “king of Osage County” was found to be the mastermind behind many of the killings.

Paschen’s mother was Maria Tallchief , who is recognized as America’s first prima ballerina, and the daughter of oil-rich Osage Alexander Joseph Tall Chief and his Scots-Irish wife, Ruth. She would visit Oklahoma often as a child, and still owns the family home in Osage County, which was left behind when her mother, grandmother and aunt moved to California in the late 1920s.

“My family lived in the small town of Fairfax at the time, my mother was born in 1925. My aunt was born in 1926, so these were young children who were born during this most horrific period of Osage history,” said Paschen.

One of the poem’s final lines is a reference to the period of the Osage lunar cycle under which late frosts will often kill young flowers, according to Paschen, citing the Osage lunar calendar. It is also under this moon cycle that Brown’s murder occurred:

During Xtha-cka Zhi-ga Tze-the, the Killer of the Flowers Moon I will wade across the river of the blackfish, the otter, the beaver I will climb the bank where the willow never dies.

Paschen researched the history of the murders extensively, and hoped her work would eventually culminate in a book. After writing the poem and a screenplay based on the Osage murders, Paschen was eventually contacted by David Grann, the author of “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.” She sent him the poem, which is published in the book.

Read Paschen’s “Wi’-gi-e” below, and join the discussion of Grann’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” with Now Read This, a joint book club with PBS NewsHour and The New York Times.

Wi’-gi-e BY ELISE PASCHEN Anna Kyle Brown. Osage. 1896-1921. Fairfax, Oklahoma.

Because she died where the ravine falls into water.

Because they dragged her down to the creek.

In death, she wore her blue broadcloth skirt.

Though frost blanketed the grass she cooled her feet in the spring.

Because I turned the log with my foot.

Her slippers floated downstream into the dam.

Because, after the thaw, the hunters discovered her body.

Because she lived without our mother.

Because she had inherited head rights for oil beneath the land.

She was carrying his offspring.

The sheriff disguised her death as whiskey poisoning.

Because, when he carved her body up, he saw the bullet hole in her skull.

Because, when she was murdered, the leg clutchers bloomed.

But then froze under the weight of frost.

During Xtha-cka Zhi-ga Tze-the, the Killer of the Flowers Moon.

I will wade across the river of the blackfish, the otter, the beaver.

I will climb the bank where the willow never dies.

published in “Bestiary” (Red Hen Press, 2009)

Poet and editor Elise Paschen was born and raised in Chicago. She earned a BA at Harvard University and a PhD in 20th century British and American Literature at Oxford University. During her time at Oxford she also co-founded Oxford Poetry. Paschen has published several collections of poetry, including “Bestiary” (2009), “Infidelities” (1996), winner of the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize, and “The Nightlife” (2017). She is the editor of “Poetry Speaks Who I Am” (2010) and “Poetry Speaks to Children” (2005), among others, and her work has been included in several anthologies. Paschen has served as the executive director of the Poetry Society of America and she co-founded the Poetry In Motion program, which posts poems in subways and buses. Paschen lives with her family in Chicago, where she teaches in the MFA Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Jennifer Hijazi is a news assistant at PBS NewsHour.

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LA Times Today: ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is a powerful historical epic (Review)

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Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI Paperback – Large Print, April 18, 2017

• Print length 512 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Random House Large Print
• Publication date April 18, 2017
• Dimensions 6.2 x 1.06 x 9.2 inches
• ISBN-10 1524755931
• ISBN-13 978-1524755935
• Lexile measure 1090L
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About the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Large Print; Large type / Large print edition (April 18, 2017)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1524755931
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1524755935
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1090L
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.2 x 1.06 x 9.2 inches
• #923 in Native American History (Books)
• #1,460 in Murder & Mayhem True Accounts
• #10,081 in United States History (Books)

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About the author

David grann.

DAVID GRANN is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine. He is the author of the critically acclaimed books "The Wager," "The Lost City of Z," and "Killers of the Flower Moon," which was a finalist for the National Book Award. He is also the author of "The White Darkness" and the collection "The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession." His book "Killers of the Flower Moon" was recently adapted into a film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, and Robert De Niro. Several of his other stories, including "The Lost City of Z" and "Old Man and the Gun," have also been adapted into major motion pictures. His investigative reporting and storytelling have garnered several honors, including a George Polk Award and an Edgar Allan Poe Award.

Customer reviews

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Customers say

Customers find the book interesting, compelling, and fantastic. They appreciate the well-researched and solid attention to details. Readers describe the narrative as suspenseful, gripping, and heartbreaking. However, some find the history shameful, horrible, and embarrassing. Opinions are mixed on the pacing, with some finding it fast and others saying the final few sections are much slower.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book interesting, compelling, and entertaining. They say it's a good read related to real history. Readers also mention the author does a truly masterful job of relaying the story.

"...of historic events attending “The Osage Murders” contains the atmospheric suspense and tension that is normally associated with a classic murder..." Read more

"...Still this is a very good read and I recommend it." Read more

"...the Flower Moon" is an enthralling masterpiece that masterfully combines true crime and history to uncover a chilling and deeply disturbing chapter..." Read more

"...David Grann does a truly masterful and heartfelt job of relaying this heartbreaking tale of murder, betrayal, and deceit...." Read more

Customers find the book well-researched, documented, and informative. They appreciate the attention to details and educational wake-up call on racism. Readers also mention the index of footnotes is impressive. In addition, they say the style is well-chosen and well-developed.

"...of the Flower Moon is the fact that despite the author’s painstaking research , and his marvelous use of period photographs and documents, this..." Read more

"... Explains the FBI beginnings as well . There are many pictures. History buffs, murder mystery buffs and true crime aficionados will enjoy this book." Read more

"...David Grann's vivid storytelling and impeccable research make this book an absolute must-read for fans of true crime, history enthusiasts, and..." Read more

"This is a terrific read. Very compelling and thoroughly , exhaustively researched...." Read more

Customers find the story heartbreaking, disturbing, sad, and compelling. They say it's informative and emotivating. Readers also mention the intergenerational trauma is horrible to witness.

"...The author skillfully captures the fear and paranoia that consumed the Osage community as they grappled with an unknown enemy within their..." Read more

"This book was wonderful, interesting, sad , heartbreaking and maddening...." Read more

"...fiction or mystery novel, as Grann writes with sincere emotion, both haunting and heartbreaking, creating a complete page-turner...." Read more

"This book was a good value and a good read. The story is very depressing , as it's a true story...." Read more

Customers find the book compelling, gripping, and heart-wrenching. They say it reads like a mystery thriller and keeps them in suspense no matter what.

"...The corruption is so pervasive , the few moral and courageous individuals seem helplessly outnumbered...." Read more

"Hats off to David Grann for all his research. Powerful true story of greed and murder ...." Read more

"...The narrative unfolds like a meticulously constructed puzzle , with each revelation more shocking than the last...." Read more

"...author for his ability to take a true life story and make it read like gripping fiction ...." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book. Some mention it's fast and delivered quickly, while others say the final few sections are much slower in comparison to the rest.

"...The writing style is well chosen and well developed. The pacing was surprisingly fast ...." Read more

"...My only complaint would be that the final few sections of the book are much slower in comparison to the rest of the book, which starts off at a..." Read more

"...was hard to put down as it was extremely well-written and moved along at a good pace , retelling the sad circumstances of deaths among the Osage..." Read more

"...The pace is a bit slow at first , but when the gruesome murders accumulate (and suspicious cover-ups from local officials begin), it grips the reader..." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the humanity of the book. Some mention it's well-documented, evoking powerful feelings of compassion for the victims and resentment towards the perpetrators. Others say they are ashamed of the history, heartsick of the cruelty perpetrated, and feel the lack of justice is palpable. They also mention the abuses include larceny and murder.

"...Moreover, "Killers of the Flower Moon" serves as a poignant commentary on the systemic racism and prejudice that plagued America during this time...." Read more

"...Their sense of unease and lack of justice is palpable . The oil has dried up and the tribal population has diminished...." Read more

"...smooth and unobtrusive, describing the past in a matter-of-fact, approachable way ...." Read more

"...I wish this book was fiction, but unfortunately it is so very true . I encourage you to read it. And think about it...." Read more

Customers find the history in the book shameful, horrible, and embarrassing. They say it covers some ugly truths and is too drawn-out. Readers also mention the book is shockingly revealing of human depravity.

"... Despicable behavior . I am so glad Grann brought it to light in an excellent book and that it was brought to the big screen." Read more

"...They are abhorrent beyond words . They will also be a source of fascination...." Read more

"...It's a shameful history that should not be covered up." Read more

"...My biggest problem with the book is the way it is not written in chronological order ...." Read more

Customers find the book has too many characters to keep track of and too much trivia about minor characters. They say the book lacks character development, especially with its main characters. Readers also mention the names are unpronounceable and difficult to follow.

"...is a little too difficult to follow and it becomes difficult to keep the characters straight ...." Read more

"...Originally 4.5🌟 Stars rounded to 5, as I did find it hard to follow each and every name ...." Read more

"...This is a well-researched book. Unfortunately, it lacks in character development , especially with its main characters...." Read more

"...I did have some trouble keeping up with the characters ." Read more

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Another Largely Forgotten Piece of American History, Brought Back to Life

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ANATOMY OF A PURPLE STATE

A north carolina politics primer.

by Christopher A. Cooper ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 2024

A useful handbook for students of political trends throughout the U.S. in a turbulent election year.

Analysis of the curious politics of North Carolina, a definitively purple state.

Cooper, a political scientist, writes that the Old North State is purple, a swing state, constantly competitive, or “whatever other middle-of-the-road moniker you want to throw at it.” That’s as a collectivity, by which measure “North Carolinians are among the most moderate in the country.” There are outliers, of course: go to Charlotte or Chapel Hill, he writes, and you’ll find a politics reminiscent of the San Francisco Bay Area, whereas if you head into the countryside you’re in pretty solidly red country. These forces are balanced out enough that, apart from the attorney general’s post, which seems unshakably Democratic, political seats in the state constantly shift between parties: the current governor is Democratic, whereas the legislature is Republican. Therein lies a rub, Cooper notes, for the governor has little actual power, the legislature almost untrammeled weight, and one of the latter’s current projects has been to gerrymander the state for a permanent Republican majority and to limit the governor’s power even further. Evenhandedly, Cooper observes simply that “just as certain is the fact that the party in power will gerrymander to hold onto its power is the fact that the minority party will advocate for reform,” and so has it been of late. While Cooper suggests that much of the electorate is generally fair-minded, he does note that there are some oddities in the system, including the continued presence of a literary test in order to qualify to vote—a definitive holdover from the days of slavery. Foreseeing a future in which present trends of nationalization, competition, and polarization become ever more pronounced, he proposes reforms (increasing the governor’s line-item veto power) and rejects others (term limits).

Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024

ISBN: 9781469681719

Page Count: 216

Publisher: Univ. of North Carolina

Review Posted Online: yesterday

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024

CURRENT EVENTS & SOCIAL ISSUES | HISTORY | UNITED STATES

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National Book Award Finalist

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

The osage murders and the birth of the fbi.

by David Grann ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2017

Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.

Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.

During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann ( The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession , 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.

Pub Date: April 18, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017

GENERAL HISTORY | TRUE CRIME | UNITED STATES | FIRST/NATIVE NATIONS | HISTORY

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by David Grann

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BOOK TO SCREEN

by Elie Wiesel & translated by Marion Wiesel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2006

The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...

Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children. 

He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions. 

Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006

ISBN: 0374500010

Page Count: 120

Publisher: Hill & Wang

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | HOLOCAUST | HISTORY | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | GENERAL HISTORY

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by Elie Wiesel ; edited by Alan Rosen

by Elie Wiesel ; illustrated by Mark Podwal

by Elie Wiesel ; translated by Marion Wiesel

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