A Bit Bookish

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

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I have a great interest in Native American culture, so I read a lot of books that delve into any aspect of that--be it from a historical viewpoint or fictional standpoint. Our treatment of Native Americans though can be a tough pill to swallow emotionally, and I find that I sometimes just have to lay the material down for awhile and then go back to it at a later date. Emotionally it is just very overwhelming. What happened to the Osage people here is astounding and just another black mark on a very long and extensive record of mistreatment. The author's journalistic background is put to good use in his documentation of the whole affair, and he certainly did his research. This is not a pleasant read, but an important one. It is bad enough that they were stripped of their land, forced onto a parcel that was thought worthless, and then when oil was found under the rocky soil exploited by guardian overseers, then murdered for pure greed. The tragedy would be that this book was never written, as a record of such misdeeds.



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