From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…

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

David Grann

Discussion: 2018 Read Harder Challenge

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2018 Read Harder Challenge

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* 2018 Read Harder Challenge
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What Members Thought

Apr 30, 2018 Carlee rated it it was amazing

Excellent historical fiction - reads like a murder mystery.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 13, 2021 Donna rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, audio, twisted-sisters

Americans’ treatment of the Indigenous people of North America has been despicable from 1492 until the present. I’m grateful to have read this book as it shows just how terrible the Osage tribe was treated well into the 20th century.

J. Edgar Hoover doesn’t come off any better than in any other book I’ve read. He seems to be in it only for himself and so he could control others. No wonder the FBI has so many scandals in its past.

Really glad I read this book.

Read again for a book group meeting.

1 like · Like · see review

May 11, 2018 Chris Burd rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

I'm late to the party on this book, and I'm sure that nothing I say hasn't already been said better by someone else. Not only is the story of the Osage Reign of Terror fascinating in its own right - and horrifying on both a human and political level - but the author has pulled together a narrative that keeps you guessing. Told in three different volumes with three different perspectives, I highly recommend that you do yourself a favor and not look up anything about the story until after you've r ...more

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Feb 08, 2019 Rebecca rated it really liked it

Shelves: bookclub-read, 2019-read-harder

Read Harder 2019: Book by a Journalist

3.5 stars rounded up. It saddens me that I had never heard of the Osage murders until my husband told me about this book. We’ve done such an excellent job of forgetting the deaths of black and brown people in this country. This story is an integral part of our own history, and definitely NOT because it led to the birth of the FBI. I’m looking forward to discussing with my bookclub.

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Aug 14, 2018 Jen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: popular-nonfiction, governerds

This book is an edge of your seat mystery and also heartbreaking to see what happened to a native community. It classifies Oklahoma and Osage county as the last vestige of the wild west where robbery gangs and murder are still an every day occurrence and how corruption penetrated every level of local government. It is so heartbreaking to see how few people cared about these murders because of the fact that they were Native Americans. It was breathtaking to see how deep this went because of the f ...more

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Jun 12, 2018 Alison rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, dcpl_elibrary, z2018-read-harder-challenge

I went back and forth on how much I liked this. There were a lot of people and relationships to keep track of, and I sometimes stuggle with that in my reading. That said, this was an interesting look into a culture and a series of events that I knew nothing about.

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