Review: The Killers of the Flower Moon

I just finished The Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, which I read for a book club. This book ticked all the boxes for me; it was engaging and kept me reading, I felt for the people involved, and I picked up several more books I want to read from the bibliography.

The subtitle for this book is The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, but it really has so much more than that. The Osage Native American tribe wound up on a chunk of land that was later discovered to be chock full of oil. Through some good lawyering, the Osage's mineral rights were well protected and they became one of the wealthiest populations in the country. (How did I not know any of this before?!?) Human nature being what it is, this naturally led to a lot of jealousy and abuse.... and a spate of murders. And, human nature continuing to be what it is, for various reasons the local investigations stalled and the fledgling FBI became involved. This book is the story of the murders and the FBI investigation.

Mollie Burkart, one of the prime targets of the Osage Reign of Terror,
and her sisters Anna and Minnie. Photo credit: David Grann, from The History Channel.

One of the things I found most fascinating (and saddening) was the discussion of the abuse of the Osage people at the hands of the local whites (and the government). While the Osage rights to the wealth from the new oil fields was protected, the local whites found a work-around; many of the Osage were declared incompetent and given guardians - white men - to "manage" their money for them. Not surprisingly, this led to rampant abuse.

William Hale, a major player
in the Osage Reign of Terror

In an effort to protect the Osage rights the "headrights" to the oil fields could not be sold (although the surface land could be, if I understand correctly), they could only be inherited. Unfortunately, as Grann details in his book, this led to a string of murders in attempts to gain control of the valuable headrights and the payments form them.

J. Edgar Hoover
From the Library of Congress

Grann dives into detail into all of this - and more - in his insightful and sensitive story of what has come to be known as the Osage Reign of Terror. He also discusses some of the beginnings of the FBI, reminding me that I have been meaning to read a biography of J. Edgar Hoover for a while now.

It's clear that Grann did a lot of research for this book, including talking to many victims' family members and digging into archives and original reports as much as possible, making for (it seems) a well documented book. Yet he also manages to write in a way that is really engaging and compelling; at times the book almost reads like a novel. In my opinion, this is narrative non-fiction at its best.

As mentioned, this book really piqued my interest to dig deeper into some of these topics, and I added several books to my TBR list, including:

1. The World's Richest Indian: The Scandal Over Jackson Barnett's Oil Fortune
2. J. Edgar Hoover Goes to the Movies: The FBI & the Origins of Hollywood's Cold War
3. The Human Predator: A Historical Chronicle of Serial Murder and Forensic Investigation
4. The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House & Tried to Steal the Country
5. Lincoln's Spymaster: Allan Pinkerton, America's First Private Eye
6. Deadly Times: The 1920 Bombing of the Los Angeles Times & America's Forgotten Decade of Terror
7. Hoover's FBI and the Fourth Estate: The Campaign to Control the Press & the Bureau's Image
8. Young J. Edgar: Hoover & the Red Scare

It also prompted me to bump the biography of Hoover that I already have on my Kindle up my list. 

Overall, I can safely say this is one of, if not the best, book I've read so far in 2019.