Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI in Crazy Challenge Connection

Mar 24, 2020 fleurette rated it liked it

Shelves: crime, non-fiction

Somehow it just didn’t work for me. It wasn’t bad. It’s just that after so many enthusiastic reviews I expected it to much more interesting and entertaining. But it may be just my thing.

The truth is I am not a great fan of non-fiction books. Only recently I started to read more of them and some were really good so now I am more open to them. That's why I expected that the story of a real crime should be something I like. After all I really like detective stories. I think this is my first true cr Somehow it just didn’t work for me. It wasn’t bad. It’s just that after so many enthusiastic reviews I expected it to much more interesting and entertaining. But it may be just my thing.

The truth is I am not a great fan of non-fiction books. Only recently I started to read more of them and some were really good so now I am more open to them. That's why I expected that the story of a real crime should be something I like. After all I really like detective stories. I think this is my first true crime book. And something just didn't work out. I mean, it's a good book but I was seriously expecting something more.

The reason may also be the second experiment which I carried out simultaneously with reading a book in a new genre for me. I listened to this book as an audiobook. I have never liked audiobooks, but recently I am more and more convinced to them and I start listening to them more often. I quite honestly think that listening to this book as an audiobook was part of my problem. When I actually read a book I pay more attention than when I listen to it. Especially when I'm not completely involved into the story.

There are so many different characters in this book that I had a serious problem remembering them and distinguishing them. Especially characters that appear once and then next time like a hundred pages later. If I read a book it would be easier for me because my visual memory is much better than my auditory memory. So it's totally my fault. It didn't help the whole thing that I did a week break somewhere in the middle. Then I came back to this story and from time to time I shook my head and asked: Who? Who the hell is this?

The second issue came to my mind only when I finished this book. And I think this is a general problem with books describing events that took place long ago. The author did his best to make it a full-developed story, used all available sources and described all possible threads. Simply because there is not much information about those events. Those really interesting ones, at least for me. Eyewitnesses are long dead, so we can talk about emotions and atmosphere mainly on the basis of newspaper articles. Hence all these side threads. Hence, we initially follow the situation from the perspective of Mollie, and then Tom White. BTW, I preferred the first one. After reading this book, it seemed to me that something was missing. And you can't even determine exactly what.

Which doesn't change the fact that it's a very well written story of tragic events that should be talked about loudly. Also for the reasons mentioned by the author at the end of the book - not all of those responsible for the crimes committed at that time were punished. It is also a very important book showing the treatment of Native Americans in those times and how cruel people can be to each other. These are definitely black pages of human history.

From my review, you may think that I did not like this book. That's not true. It's a good book, it’s a three-star book. I think I will give this genre a chance again sometime. ...more

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Apr 12, 2022 Emily rated it really liked it

Shelves: author-d, genre-true-crime, title-k, pages-300-399, author-g, cover-red, cover-cloud, cover-moon, genre-mystery, genre-crime

Well written story about the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma and how the Government displaced and for years continued to violate their basic human rights. Through this you get the story of Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman who has seen those closest to her die of seemingly natural causes or be murdered. No arrests made despite having advocates looking for answers. Years later J. Edgar Hoover becomes involved the F.B.I becomes a formidable force uncovering corruption and a Texas Ranger named Tom Wh ...more

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Apr 01, 2020 Nancy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020-books

3.5 Stars
This is a powerful work of investigative history which many people are unaware of and I'm glad Mr. Grann decided to tell this story. It is a very interesting but unfortunately sad piece of American history. I enjoyed learning everything that was disclosed in the book but I feel there were some details that could have been left out. At times the book got bogged down with too many details but it is definitely a story worth telling.

A favorite quote from the book:

"History is a merciless ju ...more

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