Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

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

David Grann

4.08 · Rating details · 123,998 ratings · 14,395 reviews

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. ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 338 pages

Published April 18th 2017 by Doubleday

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Killers of the Flower Moon, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

Most Anticipated Books of 2017

965 books — 2,802 voters

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

Book of the Month Club Picks

190 books — 86 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.08 ·

Rating details

· 123,998 ratings · 14,395 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

Apr 18, 2017 Jeffrey Keeten rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: the-old-west, american-indian, true-crime, greed

”Today our hearts are divided between two worlds. We are strong and courageous, learning to walk in these two worlds, hanging on to the threads of our culture and traditions as we live in a predominantly non-Indian society. Our history, our culture, our heart, and our home will always be stretching our legs across the plains, singing songs in the morning light, and placing our feet down with the ever beating heart of the drum. We walk in two worlds.”

The Osage Indians lived in Kansas until the 18 ...more

flag 523 likes · Like · see review

Jun 24, 2017 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, true-crime, history, greed, native-americans

Reading about injustice -historical tragedies--such greed - such ugliness---does something to us. It's hard to explain the depths of what transforms.
We feel the anger... the incredible unfairness. We feel different- changed in ways - after reading a book like this. It's the type of book that makes me want to 'do something'.

White people cheated Indians out of their land! That we 'knew'.... but there is much in this small book many people are not aware of. Author David Grann kept peeling off the ...more

flag 473 likes · Like · see review

Apr 15, 2017 Trish rated it it was amazing

Shelves: america, nonfiction, mysteries, totally-unexpected, true-crime, audio, race

That we as a nation, less than one hundred years after the Osage Indian killings, have no collective memory of these events seems an intentional erasure. The truth of the killings would traumatize our school children and make every one of us search our souls, of that there is no doubt. David Grann shows us that the systematic killings of dozens of oil-wealthy Osage Indians were not simply the rogue deeds of a psychopath or two in a small town in Oklahoma.

The tentacles of guilt and the politics That we as a nation, less than one hundred years after the Osage Indian killings, have no collective memory of these events seems an intentional erasure. The truth of the killings would traumatize our school children and make every one of us search our souls, of that there is no doubt. David Grann shows us that the systematic killings of dozens of oil-wealthy Osage Indians were not simply the rogue deeds of a psychopath or two in a small town in Oklahoma.

The tentacles of guilt and the politics of fear extended to townspeople who earned their reputation as “successful” because they allowed these murders and thefts of property to go on, as well as implicated law enforcement. Grann outlines how the case was solved and brought to court by the persistence of FBI officer Tom White and his band, but Grann is not full-throated in his praise of Hoover's FBI. He leaves us feeling ambiguous, not about White, but about Hoover.

The Osage Indians once laid claim to much of the central part of what is now called the United States, “a territory that stretched from what is now Missouri and Kansas to Oklahoma and still farther west, all the way to the Rockies.” The tribe was physically imposing, described by Thomas Jefferson as “the finest men we have ever seen,” whose warriors typically stood over six feet tall. They were given land by Jefferson as part of their settlement to stop fighting the Indian Wars in the early 1700s.

Jefferson reneged on the agreement within four years, and ended up giving the once-mighty Osage a 50-by-125 mile area in southeastern Kansas to call their own. Gradually, however, white settlers found they liked that particular Kansas farmland and moved onto it anyway, killing anyone who challenged them, oftentimes the legal “owners”. The government then forced the Osage to sell the Kansas land and buy rocky, hilly land in Oklahoma, land no white man would want, where the Osage would be “safe” from encroachment. This was the late 1800s.

In the early 1900s oil was discovered on that ‘worthless’ Oklahoma land and because a representative of the Osage tribe was in Washington to defend Osage interests, he managed to include in the legal agreement of the allotment of Indian Territory “that the oil, gas, coal, or other minerals covered by the lands…are hereby reserved to the Osage Tribe.” Living Osage family members each were given a headright, or a share in the tribe’s mineral trust. The headrights could not be sold, they could only be inherited.

The Osage became immensely wealthy. The federal government expressed some concern (!) that the Osage were unable to manage their own wealth, and so ordered that local town professionals, white men, be appointed as guardians. One Indian WWI veteran complained he was not permitted to sign his own checks without oversight, and expenditures down to toothpaste were monitored. But this is not even the most terrible of the legacies. The Osage began to be murdered, one by one.

When Grann discovered rumblings of this century-old criminal case in Oklahoma, he wanted to see the extent of what was called the Reign of Terror, thought to have begun in 1921 and lasted until 1926, when some of the cases were finally successfully prosecuted. The “reign,” he discovered, was much longer and wider than originally imagined, and therefore did not just implicate the men who were eventually jailed for the crimes. “White people in Oklahoma thought no more of killing an Indian than they did in 1724.” said John Ramsey, one of the men eventually jailed for crimes against the Osage. A reporter noted, “The attitude of a pioneer cattleman toward a full-blood Indian…is fairly well recognized.”

What we learn in the course of this account is that a great number of people had information that could have led to answers much sooner than it did, but because there was so much corruption, even the undercover agents and sheriffs were in on the open secret of the murders. Those townspeople who might be willing to divulge what they knew were unable to discover to whom they should share information lest they be murdered as well. Grann was able to answer some questions never resolved at the time, with his access to a greater number of now-available documents.

Why this history is not better known is a mystery still. Memory of it was fading already in the late 1950s when a film, The FBI Story starring Jimmy Stewart, made mention of it. The 1920s are not so long ago, and some of the people who were children then have only recently passed away, or may even be still living. Among the Osage there is institutional memory, and still some resentment, naturally, and a long-lasting mistrust of white people. Need I say this is a must-read?

The audio of this book is narrated by three individuals: Ann Marie Lee, Will Patton, and Danny Campbell. Interestingly, the voices of the narrators seem to age over the course of the history, and it is a tale well-told. But the paper copy of this has photographs which add a huge amount of depth and interest to the story. This is another good candidate for a Whispersync option, but if you are going to choose one, the paper was my favorite. ...more

flag 382 likes · Like · see review

Mar 28, 2018 Matthew rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: True crime and history buffs

Shelves: true-crime, 2018, library, non-fiction, audio

3 to 3.5 stars

Interesting and eye opening. A scary true story of greed and racism in the development of the American West. This is one of those hard to read and accept truths of American history. If you enjoy history and/or true crime I think this is worth giving a go.

My main criticism is that while the story is interesting, I am not quite sure it is book worthy. It seems like this whole story could have been told in 30 to 50 pages or in a Wikipedia article. It feels a bit drawn out when expande ...more

flag 238 likes · Like · see review

Apr 11, 2018 Julie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: history, e-book, true-crime, 2018, crime, netgalley

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann is a 2017 Doubleday publication.

A Conspiracy is everything that ordinary life is not. It’s the inside game, cold, sure, undistracted, forever closed off to us. We are the flawed ones, the innocents, trying to make some rough sense of the daily jostle. Conspirators have a logic, and a daring beyond our reach. All conspiracies are the same taut story of men who find coherence in a criminal act- Don Delillo

This is a stunning historical true crime 'novel' ...more

flag 227 likes · Like · see review

May 06, 2017 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it

I don't know why or even how, after all I have read, I can still be surprised at man's cunning and greed. I knew nothing about the Osage Indians, certainly nothing about headrights that provided them with a great deal of money.It is the money and the way the law was provisioned that made them a target for the unscrupulous and there were plenty of those.

This is the story of the investigation into murders that until Hoover involved himself and his men, we're virtually shoved under the rug and goi ...more

flag 238 likes · Like · see review

Nov 25, 2017 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: old-west, non-fiction, historical-nonfiction, book-club-reads

This is a chilling story - hard to believe it's actually true, hard to believe I've never heard of this before. And mostly, hard to believe so many people could be so cruel and callous. David Grann, a journalist, has done an excellent job investigating and chronicling the terrible story of the Osage American Indian murders in the 1920s.

In about 1904, the Osage tribe had negotiated a contract with the U.S. government; significantly, their lawyer was able to slip in a clause that all oil, gas and This is a chilling story - hard to believe it's actually true, hard to believe I've never heard of this before. And mostly, hard to believe so many people could be so cruel and callous. David Grann, a journalist, has done an excellent job investigating and chronicling the terrible story of the Osage American Indian murders in the 1920s.

In about 1904, the Osage tribe had negotiated a contract with the U.S. government; significantly, their lawyer was able to slip in a clause that all oil, gas and other mineral rights on their land were "reserved to the Osage Tribe." By 1917, there were huge oil strikes on the Osage land, and the "headrights" - each tribe member's share of the oil lease royalties - were worth many thousands of dollars. Tribe members became hugely wealthy.

But then the vultures moved in: Congress required most of the Osages to have an appointed guardian to manage their wealth; most of these guardians were intent on fleecing and defrauding their charges. Local businesses would jack up their charges for the Osages. Banks charged usurious interest rates on loans. Some white people would marry the Osages for their money ... and some would kill to get their hands on their fortunes.

description

Three sisters: Minnie, Anna and Mollie

Anna Brown mysteriously disappeared one night in May 1921; her decomposed body was found about a week later, with a bullet hole in the back of her head. About the same time, the body of Charles Whitehorn was found near the base of an oil derrick. More deaths followed: some clearly murders, some unclear but suspicious (Anna's mother died soon after her of a mysterious wasting disease). Too soon, Mollie Burkhart was the only one in her family still alive, along with her white husband, Ernest Burkhart, and their three children.

Government and private investigators came up with almost nothing (how many of them were complicit, and how many were threatened into silence, is a question that may never be fully answered). And sometimes, too often, important witnesses or persons who were helping with the investigation would be found dead as well. It became known as the Reign of Terror.

Grann unfolds the story in a clear and logical way, with some fascinating and chilling details. When the Bureau of Investigation (the precursor to the FBI) finally gets involved, things start to look more hopeful. But the web of conspiracies and silence isn't so easy to take apart.

Highly recommended. This is a historical event that deserves never to be forgotten. Grann deserves praise for helping to bring it back to light, and for taking the extra steps to investigate and report on what may have happened to some of the forgotten victims. It makes you want to weep for humanity, but there are a few shining lights in the story.

"To believe that the Osages survived intact from their ordeal is a delusion of the mind. What has been possible to salvage has been saved and is dearer to our hearts because it survived. What is gone is treasured because it was what we once were. We gather our past and present into the depths of our being and face tomorrow. We are still Osage."

Initial post: I've borrowed this from a friend for a December book club read.

I read this whole book in just two days - it was that gripping. ...more

flag 148 likes · Like · see review

Jun 16, 2017 Liz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

A good nonfiction book will read as fast as a good piece of fiction, all the while imparting new knowledge to the reader. Destiny of the Republic, by Candice Millard, is a prime example. Now comes Killers of the Flower Moon. Enthralling, it tells not only of the killing spree against the Osage, but the rise of the oil industry, the development of private detectives and the Bureau of Investigation ( the precursor to the FBI) and the political corruption of the day.

It's a sad look back on the pre ...more

flag 147 likes · Like · see review

Jan 26, 2019 marilyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: no-rules-just-thrills, digital, library, nonfiction

This book is haunting. It covers the deaths of at least 24, but in reality many more, members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma, the richest people per capita in the world, at that time. In the first part of the book we get to meet some of the people who were murdered. In the second part of the book we learn about Tom White and his men, assigned by J. Edgar Hoover to find out why the Osage were dying (by bullet, poison, explosion, and more) and who was behind the deaths. In the third part o ...more

flag 137 likes · Like · see review

Aug 10, 2017 Colin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: insurgency-terrorism-militias-crime, reviewed-books, united-states, law-and-legal-history

A fairly horrifying true crime story of the murder of multiple Osage Indians in the 1920s. Basically an extra-long New Yorker magazine piece - well-written, interesting history, a quick read; the last section drops the voice of god narration and provides some perspective on the practice of investigation reporting and digging through the historical archives in cases like these. (The author also discusses some of this in a Slate podcast interview, which is how I came across the book.) Some insight ...more

flag 132 likes · Like · see review

Oct 09, 2017 Linda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-star-winners, native-americans, favorites, non-fiction, true-crime

"We Indians cannot get our rights in these courts and I have no chance at all of saving this land for my children." (Widow of Joe Bates, Osage Nation, 1921)

No horror novella could possibly mirror the horrendous crimes that were visited upon the Osage Indian Nation in the 1920's. The catastrophic bungling of crime evidence, the leaks and sabotage, and the willful insidious behavior by unscrupulous individuals is mind-boggling. The devil and his cohorts wore well-pressed suits and walked among the "We Indians cannot get our rights in these courts and I have no chance at all of saving this land for my children." (Widow of Joe Bates, Osage Nation, 1921)

No horror novella could possibly mirror the horrendous crimes that were visited upon the Osage Indian Nation in the 1920's. The catastrophic bungling of crime evidence, the leaks and sabotage, and the willful insidious behavior by unscrupulous individuals is mind-boggling. The devil and his cohorts wore well-pressed suits and walked among the honest and the God-fearing.

In the 1870's, the Osage Indian Nation were driven from their lands in Kansas and forced upon rocky, worthless land in Oklahoma. The Osage embraced this land as a means of being left alone. That wish never came true. Beneath this forsaken land were some of the largest oil deposits in the United States. The Osage shared the rich dividends amongst themselves. But their new-found wealth came at a great price. The law forced appointed "guardians" to manage their growing bank accounts.

David Grann tells this incredible story through the wide periphery of Mollie Burkhart and her family members. Mollie was an Osage woman married to a white man, Ernest Burkhart. It is through Mollie that we come to know the brutal crimes committed against her and her family and others living in this town. The photographs of Mollie, her mother, and her sisters will breathe life into this story. It will enrage you at the thought that these defenseless individuals died from poisoning, suspicious fires, and fatal gunshot wounds. No one dared to speak names behind closed doors out of fear of retribution. And insatiable greed turned hearts to blackened stone.

Grann's story reads like a well-tuned work of pure fiction. But as you turn the pages, you are aghast by the hardcore truth that awaits you. Justice didn't exist on this Osage territory. It took years and years before a case could be brought before the court system. That is unless you could find a jury that was not lined with bribes. Years of ineptness took their toll on Mollie until a remarkable former Texas Ranger, Tom White, took charge. We will experience the birth of the FBI with the initiation of J. Edgar Hoover. The journey towards that justice was a long and arduous one.

I came upon David Grann on C-SPAN one evening. I had to know the story of Mollie Burkhart for myself. I believe you will, too. "The blood cries out from the ground." The silence no longer exists and the truth, finally, prevails. ...more

flag 128 likes · Like · see review

Apr 30, 2017 Diane rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, nonfiction, true-crime

This is the best nonfiction book I've read this year. I've enjoyed David Grann's earlier work, but this latest one is just fantastic.

Killers of the Flower Moon tells a story I hadn't heard before: The "Reign of Terror" in the 1920s, when white folk were murdering dozens of Osage Indians in a despicable attempt to steal their money and rights to Oklahoma oil reserves. This case occurred during the beginnings of the FBI, and J. Edgar Hoover used it as marketing tool for the agency.

This book is ric This is the best nonfiction book I've read this year. I've enjoyed David Grann's earlier work, but this latest one is just fantastic.

Killers of the Flower Moon tells a story I hadn't heard before: The "Reign of Terror" in the 1920s, when white folk were murdering dozens of Osage Indians in a despicable attempt to steal their money and rights to Oklahoma oil reserves. This case occurred during the beginnings of the FBI, and J. Edgar Hoover used it as marketing tool for the agency.

This book is rich with American history. First, there's the irony that the Osage were only in Oklahoma because the U.S. government had forced them to resettle there, after the feds decided to take Kansas away from Indian Territory and let the whites settle it instead. Then, once the indigenous people were settled in Oklahoma and oil was found, suddenly the whites wanted the land back. But the Osage had set it up so mineral rights were to stay within tribal families, which led to some whites intermarrying with the Osage, and then a rash of mysterious deaths.

I really liked how Grann structured this book into three parts. First, we see things from the perspective of an Osage woman who lost several members of her family. Then, we follow an FBI man who is tasked with investigating the murders. Finally, Grann gives his perspective as a reporter working on the case nearly 100 years later, and we learn things that not even the FBI had discovered.

I listened to this on audio, which featured a different narrator for each of the three sections. Actor Will Patton was especially great in the FBI part. I also had a print copy of the book, which I recommend looking through because it includes dozens of historic photographs (including the one mentioned in the passage below) and also pictures of the people and places mentioned in the text.

Grann has an engaging writing style, and this is such an engrossing read that I raced through it in two days. I would highly recommend Killers of the Flower Moon to anyone who likes true crime stories or books about history.

Favorite Passage

In Pawhuska, I stopped at the Osage Nation Museum ... The most dramatic photograph in the museum spanned an entire side of the room. Taken at a ceremony in 1924, it was a panoramic view of members of the tribe alongside prominent local white businessman and leaders. As I scanned the picture, I noticed that a section was missing, as if someone had taken scissors to it. I asked [Kathryn] Red Corn what happened to that part of the photograph. "It's too painful to show," she said.

When I asked why, she pointed to the blank space and said, "The devil was standing right there."

She disappeared for a moment, then returned with a small, slightly blurred print of the missing panel: it showed William K. Hale, staring coldly at the camera. The Osage had removed his image, not to forget the murders, as most Americans had, but because they cannot forget.

...more

flag 121 likes · Like · see review

Nov 16, 2018 Paula rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: andrew-carnegie-nominee, mystery, national-book-award-nominee, published-2017, non-fiction, crime, anthony-award, audio-book, read-in-2018, edgar-award

This book was nominated for a lot of awards, but for me it didn’t live up to it’s praise. The cold-blooded murders of the Osage American Indians was a tragic part of American history. Full of greed and racism. The book, however, was too long and repetitive. The greed behind the murders and the disregard for Osage lives was not enough for a full book. There wasn’t much written about the birth of the FBI either. I would have liked to have seen more.

I listened to the audiobook and wasn’t impressed ...more

flag 125 likes · Like · see review

Sep 21, 2017 Montzalee Wittmann rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann was a difficult book to read because of all the injustice to the Osage people and victims especially. What a horrible stain on our history. I wish it was a compulsory book for high school kids to read and discuss today. Would it make a difference? I don't know but there is so much white-washing in the history books as it is. This was a book for our reading group and I am so glad it was picked or I probably woul ...more

flag 119 likes · Like · see review

Aug 26, 2018 Beata rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a powefrul book on murders committed on Osage people during the second decade of the 20th century. The author is an investigative journalist and does a tremendous job bringing this tragic story to the general public. I was astounded and could not put this book down...

flag 107 likes · Like · see review

Oct 22, 2017 PorshaJo rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: challengereads-2017, challengereads, non-fiction, audio

Lies, greed, murder, cover-ups....what a frightful Halloween read. Except this one is a true story, which makes it even more frightening. This is the true story of the Osage Indians. How they were taken advantage of and belittled by everyone. In the early 19th century, they were forced from their lands and eventually ended up taking up residence on Indian territory, which is now known as Oklahoma. Then, in the early 20th century, there was found to be oil on those lands. They had a headright on Lies, greed, murder, cover-ups....what a frightful Halloween read. Except this one is a true story, which makes it even more frightening. This is the true story of the Osage Indians. How they were taken advantage of and belittled by everyone. In the early 19th century, they were forced from their lands and eventually ended up taking up residence on Indian territory, which is now known as Oklahoma. Then, in the early 20th century, there was found to be oil on those lands. They had a headright on the lands, which is a legal grant of land to settlers. (Yup, I looked it up.) Leasing land allowed the Osage to become some of the wealthiest people in the country. But the white people did not like this, referring to them as 'filthy redskins' and other remarks. The government even thought they were not educated enough to manage their own money, appointing trustees for each Osage Indian. The Osage had an allowance, very small, in which they could spend each month. When they needed money for something...sending a child to a better school, medicine for a sick child, they had to ask their trustee, who often told them no. And then, if it was not bad enough, they were being murdered.....for their land. It is one of the most chilling, true stories I have read (well, except Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders.)

The book details all of this and the many murders of the Osage. It seemed everyone was against them. The government, even local officials, everyone. They could not stand that they had this wealth. It was found that the trustees appointed to them were often stealing money from them, in large amounts. And after a number of years, when the murders were not solved, and more were being committed, the federal government got involved. Oh, but what became the FBI CHARGED the Indians a large fee to actually investigate the murders. Nothing that was done in any other investigation. Sometimes I thought, how could this happen, how could our government do this, how could this greed and corruption go on....and then I turn on the news. Yeah, nuff said.

Anyway, an incredible book about a time in our history. An utterly fascinating story that I'm so glad I read. When the book was released, the title alone hooked me. So I immediately requested the audio. Now, the bad part...one of *the worst* audio narrations I have come across. There were three narrators in total. The first narrator, read like she was telling a bed-time story, with over the top embellishments. Like she was telling me a story about a fuzzy monster under my bed when she was describing how a person was murdered. I wanted to stop, I really did. But the print version at my library....yeah, I would have been #72 in the queue. At this point, I was hooked, and just tried to put the narration out of my head. I looked at a preview of the book and saw it has tons of photos. So I have it on order and plan to revisit this one after I get the book.

A highly recommended read! But read the print, your missing pictures pertaining to this history. And the narration is just dreadful. Plus, there are a lot of people involved in this story, and print can help keeping track, you can go back easily and re-read portions. I plan on reading more from this author and perhaps reading more non-fiction in general. ...more

flag 105 likes · Like · see review

Jun 30, 2018 PattyMacDotComma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: aa-ce, aa, non-fiction, picture-graphic, history, indigenous, mystery-crime-thriller, favourites-adult

5★
“He was six feet four and had the sinewy limbs and the eerie composure of a gunslinger. Even when dressed in a stiff suit, like a door-to-door salesman, he seemed to have sprung from a mythic age.”

John Wayne? No, but if this had been written right after it happened and Hollywood had made a movie of it, John Wayne would have played Tom White, the special agent in charge of the Bureau of Investigation’s field office in Houston.

He was described as “an impressive sight in his large, suede Stetson ...more

flag 98 likes · Like · see review

Jan 03, 2019 jv poore rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, own-it

If ever a story needed to be told, it is this one.

Although I was aware of the general horrific treatment of the indigenous people by the white man, I am shocked and shattered to learn of the special hell the Osage people were subjected to.

Because this history was so well-hidden, thorough and proper research was required. Mr. Grann was quite clearly the perfect person, as he uncovered and articulated multiple conspiracies. Although his affection and admiration of the Osage is evident, he miracu ...more

flag 96 likes · Like · see review

Mar 14, 2018 Matt rated it really liked it

Shelves: american-indians, journalism, true-crime

“History is a merciless judge. It lays bare our tragic blunders and foolish missteps and exposes our most intimate secrets, wielding the power of hindsight like an arrogant detective who seems to know the end of the mystery from the outset.”
- David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon

David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon is an irresistible combination: part history, part true crime, and part journalistic memoir, it sheds a bright light on a dark corner of our nation’s history, one that has been ...more

flag 84 likes · Like · see review

Apr 26, 2017 Perry rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

Malfeasance toward Osage Inherent in the System Intended to Protect Them
[revised/improved May 15, 2017]

In the 1870s, the United States government drove the Osage nation in herds onto a small reservation in Oklahoma, situated on a relatively small tract which was chosen because its rocky terrain was particularly unsuited to agriculture and thus undesirable to sooners arriving from the East to stake land claims.

Forty years later, after the discovery of vast reserves of oil below this barren land, Malfeasance toward Osage Inherent in the System Intended to Protect Them
[revised/improved May 15, 2017]

In the 1870s, the United States government drove the Osage nation in herds onto a small reservation in Oklahoma, situated on a relatively small tract which was chosen because its rocky terrain was particularly unsuited to agriculture and thus undesirable to sooners arriving from the East to stake land claims.

Forty years later, after the discovery of vast reserves of oil below this barren land, Osage members were among the country's richest, unaware the only compensation for their tribe losing its land--black gold--would, by 1925, turn fatal for at least eighteen tribal members and three non-members who apparently got too close to the fire.

In 1921, three of the Osage were found murdered, each under mysterious circumstances. By the time the murder toll had reached eighteen members, local law enforcement's investigation was no closer to discovering evidence or identifying any suspect. It has thus become apparent that these law officers feared what would happen if they got closer to solving the crimes or they were beholden to unknown powers interested in the crimes being left unsolved. The Osage hired their own detectives, only to have them bought off to go away or threatened with death.

Many of the murder victims were members of the family of Mollie Burkhart (her mom, sisters and their husbands were all killed). The author David Grann, who has gained a stellar reputation as an investigative writer after penning 2009's The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, centers three intriguing threads around Ms. Burkhart.

In the first segment, he describes Mollie Burkhart's family and details most of the murders. Within this introduction, he introduces significant local figures as well as local law enforcement and its stymied and/or farcical investigations. The obstacles to a serious effort at solving the crimes by state and local officials sets the stage for involvement of the feds.

Upon lobbying by an Oklahoma congressman, the nascent federal law enforcement agency, which ultimately became known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, stepped into the fray. Its director J. Edgar Hoover sent in a rugged former Texas Ranger named Tom White, then nearly forty. Grann's writing intrigues as he follows the gutsy, incorruptible White in his dogged search for the killers and in the trial that followed. Grann's sedulous efforts at research really shine, after spending years poring over FBI files, records and field reports of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, court testimony, diaries and what seems like truckloads of other documents.

In the final section, Grann describes how his own inquisitiveness led to findings of a wider circle of complicity and of further, more nefarious wrongdoing: matters that seeped through the cracks of the investigations, were intentionally neglected, or needed deeper digging and connecting of disparate "coincidences" and circumstances. What Grann found is an appalling betrayal of these Native Americans inherent in the system whereby they had already been forced to take land in exchange for losing their homes and way of life. The American government gave them the Oklahoma land but maintained legal title to the property As Trustee for the Osage on the thought that the Osage were unable to act in their own best interests. This presumption of incompetency led to a sort of cottage industry whereby a white businessman or lawyer would file a petition to be appointed as Guardian for the Indian, which would be granted as a matter of course. To say more would spoil pleasure in reading this mesmeric and infuriating book.

The book convincingly and unsparingly airs a string of crimes against the Osage that reveals a festering thorn in our nation's history: the appalling mistreatment of Native Americans and a malfeasance at the heart of the system established to "protect" them. Killers of the Flower Moon also provides an incisive, balanced report on the inception of the FBI, and the very real need for a federal law enforcement agency for certain crimes that would not be prosecuted due to local criminal influence and racketeering.

An important, high caliber read that will make you cringe at the inhumanity of humans and appalled (again) at the treatment of Native Americans. ...more

flag 84 likes · Like · see review

Jun 23, 2017 Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: recent-favorites

A good book friend of mine says that the best nonfiction reads like fiction, and Killers of the Flower Moon is that. I soak up any books seeped in culture. What I learned about Osage culture was a corollary to the compelling, deeply disturbing, Reign of Terror that happened to the Osage during the early 1900s. I saw this book covered on The View earlier this week, which pleased me because this is one of those important books you wish everyone would read. Compassion would run a little deeper, and ...more

flag 85 likes · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2018 WILLIAM2 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: us, 21-ce, nonfiction, history

The depiction of human venality here will set your hair on fire. The Osage Indians, whose reservation happened to be on a major oil reserve, were in the 1920s set upon by an army of white grifters who murdered them for their wealth. And the entire white institutional infrastructure in and around Osage County, Oklahoma—lawyers, bankers, judges, retailers, housewives et al.—were complicit in the killing. Let there be no doubt: This was one of the myriad forms of genocide visited by the white man o ...more

flag 78 likes · Like · see review

Nov 13, 2017 Dianne rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: best-of-2017

This is a remarkable and horrifying piece of American history that screams to be read! I had never heard of the Osage "Reign of Terror." This true story is really a dual story; the mass murder of wealthy Osage Indians in Oklahoma for their oil headrights in the 1920s and 30s and the forming of the FBI.

It's an amazing piece of investigative reporting and very well put together. There are so many characters it can be hard to keep track of who is who, but hang in there. If you think the U.S. is me ...more

flag 74 likes · Like · see review

May 24, 2018 JanB rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

The blurb: “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. The newly created F.B.I. took up the case, in what became one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations.”

This book surpasses any fictional murder mystery – the fact th ...more

flag 73 likes · Like · see review

Aug 26, 2016 Brandon Forsyth rated it it was amazing

It's been a few months since a book truly grabbed me, both heart and mind, and wouldn't let me go. David Grann's latest is a compelling argument that he is the finest narrative non-fiction writer alive today. The story here is unbelievable, thrilling and heartbreaking, and the reporting is first-rate, penetrating and immersive. A moving elegy about the horrible abuses inflicted on indigenous peoples, a crackling whodunit set in the lawless frontier, a sobering examination of the corrupting influ ...more

flag 72 likes · Like · see review

Jul 16, 2018 Michael Ferro rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Grann's reportage is both engrossing due to its thoroughly researched nature, and because of his adept skill as a well-rounded storyteller. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON was a book that I had heard plenty about, obviously, and when I picked it up and read the synopsis, I suppose I was no different from many others who thought: "Murdered Native Americans? Perhaps hundreds of them? For their oil money?? A potential FBI cover-up!? WHEN? HOW?" Of course, I couldn't wait to start reading; I was certainl ...more

flag 69 likes · Like · see review

Jun 11, 2017 L.A. Starks rated it it was amazing

Everyone should read this book.

I grew up in the county next to Osage, bought the book at an indie bookstore nearby when Grann was on his tour, and have researched Oklahoma history. So I am more familiar than most with the Osage saga, having heard the general stories.

However, Grann has done a phenomenal job of researching as many of the Osage murders as possible (twenty-four are documented but there appear to have been far more), and of giving a picture of the ongoing predation to which the Osag ...more

flag 69 likes · Like · see review

Jun 30, 2017 Dem rated it really liked it

What an amazing insight into The Osage Indian murders which occurred in the early 1920s in Osage county Oklahoma. I had never heard of these murders and when I read reviews on this book by David Grann I really was keen to learn what happened to these people.

Between 1921 and 1925 over 60 Osage were killed, and these crimes appear to have been committed by greedy individuals in order to take over the Osage lands which were rich in oil and were worth vast sums of money. Newspapers of the time desc ...more

flag 66 likes · Like · see review

Aug 13, 2017 Rick Riordan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A fascinating story of a time I knew little about — the 1920s in Osage territory, Oklahoma, when the Osage became suddenly and tremendously wealthy thanks to the oil rights they retained on tribal property. During this time, Osage Indians started being murdered in mysterious ways. It soon became apparent the deaths were linked, but was it a serial killer? Multiple killers? As one can imagine, justice for Native Americans was not a high priority for white authorities, locally, statewide or nation ...more

flag 65 likes · Like · see review

Jun 23, 2017 Bark rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, non-fiction, netgalley-review, true-crime

This book pieces together a brutal piece of history and unravels an ugly murder mystery. It’s disturbing, depressing and, at least for me, not at all the fast moving read I was led to believe from some of the early reviews. Maybe it’s just me, but I had a difficult time sticking with it. There were so many people involved and random details tossed in that didn’t seem to move things along that to me it seemed a little too over-stuffed and hard to follow at times. Perhaps it should’ve been a littl This book pieces together a brutal piece of history and unravels an ugly murder mystery. It’s disturbing, depressing and, at least for me, not at all the fast moving read I was led to believe from some of the early reviews. Maybe it’s just me, but I had a difficult time sticking with it. There were so many people involved and random details tossed in that didn’t seem to move things along that to me it seemed a little too over-stuffed and hard to follow at times. Perhaps it should’ve been a little longer? I don’t know. I tried it first in its Kindle version which includes photos of the people involved and then I moved on to the audiobook when I found myself putting it down and not wanting to pick it back up again. The audiobook is read by three narrators and one of them, Will Patton, is one of my favorites so that definitely helped. Something about his voice just pulls you in and forces you to pay attention.

This is a story about those in power who systematically attempt to eradicate an entire tribe of Indians in order to nab their wealth. First they remove them from their homeland and stick them on an unwanted patch of land (which turns out to be worth a fortune later when oil is struck), then they take their buffalo away making them dependent on the government’s money and then after the tribe has accumulated millions because they were far savvier than anyone assumed, the murdering begins. It is a terrible, awful story and it makes me heartsick that there was no justice and that these people were treated as if they were stupid children – or worse. I wasn’t expecting hearts and rainbows but I was hoping someone, somewhere would pay for all of the atrocities committed but no, the greedy and the powerful get away with murder. It’s sickening.

Do I recommend it? Yes, I do. It’s an important book and appalling true story that needed to be documented. We all need to know about the evil that was done to the Osage Tribe and I am not sorry I read/listened to it but I can’t honestly say I would ever read it again.

Previous reading notes:
I'm putting this one on hold for a bit. I've been really struggling to get through it and am instead going to continue to wait for my number to come up for the audio version via Overdrive and read it that way. It's dense with information and history and I feel I'll absorb it better that way. My brain is too tired to read this at night after a never ending day.

UPDATE: My number has come up and this is read by Will freaking Patton! Yes, this was most definitely a good decision on my part.

Starting over with the audio today. I'm kind of glad I have both as I can read along with the Kindle and look at the pictures smattered about while listening to Will Patton's voice. I feel so spoiled ;) ...more

flag 65 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Rolla Public Libr...: Oct. 2020 BotM Killers of the Osage Moon	1	1	Sep 17, 2020 04:43PM
Mystery/Thriller ...: * Group Read - Killers of the Flower Moon general No spoilers	7	35	Aug 18, 2020 11:06AM
Play Book Tag: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann> 3 stars	1	10	Jun 23, 2020 01:14PM
Mystery/Thriller ...: Group Read - Killers of the Flower Moon ch 22-26 end Spoilers Welcome	11	33	Jun 21, 2020 05:44PM
COVID Book Club: 5. How did you respond to the description of law enforcement in America during the 1920s (p. 19)? What elements most shocked or surprised you? What effect did this have on the investigations into the deaths of Anna Brown and Charles Whitehorn?	3	3	Jun 04, 2020 03:08PM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Nonfiction

4,162 users

History

2,583 users

Crime > True Crime

1,694 users

Mystery > Crime

575 users

Mystery

483 users

Audiobook

409 users

Historical

286 users

North American Hi... > American History

246 users

Book Club

152 users

Adult

128 users

See top shelves…

About David Grann

David Grann

1,677 followers

David Grann has written about everything from New York City’s antiquated water tunnels to the hunt for the giant squid to the presidential campaign. His stories have appeared in several anthologies, including What We Saw: The Events of September 11, 2001; The Best American Crime Writing, of both 2004 and 2005; and The Best American Sports Writing, of 2003 and 2006. A 2004 finalist for the Michael ...more