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

I came away from this one seeing the forest more than the trees. The overall story is interesting, but I wasn't really interested in the details along the way. At the end of the day, I'm glad I read the book, because this seems like an important story in terms of American history. But I often found my mind wandering while going through it.

Did you know that the Osage Native Americans in Oklahoma were among the (if not THE) richest people in the world in the early 1900's? The Osage were assigned land by the U.S. Government that later was found to be rich in oil. In response to this, the United States passed a law that anyone with 50% or more Osage ancestry had to be assigned a guardian (code for a white man) who was appointed by the court and basically in charge of their finances.

This legal racism and exploitation, problematic on its own, also bred all kinds of illegal activity - murders, kickbacks, bribes, corruption, conspiracy. And in the 1920's begin what is known as the Reign of Terror for the Osage, when dozens were murdered for their oil headrights.

The book is told in three parts, the first part focusing on the Osage themselves, then moving to the FBI investigation, and finally ending with additional research and theories that David Grann unearthed. This might be one of those books where the movie is more interesting than the book, but you if really want to get facts and details about the actual events, then the book is key. While I'm not going to insist that the book is superior (and it very well might be, as I have yet to see the movie) I'd suggest one or the other, as the story itself is one that should be heard.

Here's an article from PBS (written by David Grann) about the Osage murders, it has some great pictures. Now that I'm thinking about it, these very well might have been in the book, but I did the audiobook so...

If you're interested in the upcoming movie, directed by Martin Scorsese, here is the trailer.