This is a horrific account of the deaths, investigations, trials, and oversights of murders of the oil-rich Osage headright holders in the early 1920s. And of how J. Edgar Hoover used a curtailed investigation to establish himself securely in the federal hierarchy.
The murderous conspiracy, or multiple conspiracies, were carried out by men masquerading as friends and helpers of the Osage—just the sort of men who have again come to power in the USA. Let us all carefully and as securely as possible record what they will not want to survive their ascendancy, whether it is 2 years, 4 years, or the rest of our lifetimes. ( )

Gut punch of a book. American horror story impeccably told. Grann humanely and masterfully wrangles thousands of documents and evidence into a chilling tale of utter depravity launched against the innocent Osage and powered by extractive capitalism, internal colonialism, white supremacy, weak legal systems, and everyday small-town corruption. ( )

I think one of the things that hit me hardest was realizing that there is so much more to the history of our country. The older the country is more and more is dropped from history books. There is much of which we have never even heard. ( )

What an amazing insight into The Osage Indian murders which occurred in the early 1920s in Osage county Oklahoma. I had never heard of these murders and when I read reviews on this book by David Grann I really was keen to learn what happened to these people.

Between 1921 and 1925 over 60 Osage were killed, and these crimes appear to have been committed by greedy individuals in order to take over the Osage lands which were rich in oil and were worth vast sums of money. Newspapers of the time described the increasing number of unsolved murders as the "Reign of Terror".

an extremely well researched and written account by David Grann, this is a book that informs and educates the reader as well as being a terrific true life crime story well worth reading. ( )

Book 132 - David Grann - Killers of the Flower Moon

Hmmm….I am writing this in Nov 2023 and there is talk of Academy Awards for the recently released movie of the same name. I haven’t seen it yet but the book…has left me with a series of questions…especially with the subtitle of ‘The Osage Murders and the birth of the FBI’.

How are they going to film this ?
What do they leave out ?
When some of the main characters and indeed main events go without mention for chapters and chapters…how does this get pulled together ?

There is no doubt it is very clever…the details and minutiae the book goes into, no doubt satisfies some real crime nerds…but sadly not me.

The horror at how the Osage people were treated is now fact. The insane and shocking treatment of them, barely 100 years ago took my breath away. Having to have guardians to look after the profits from their oil rich lands as they were deemed able to because of who they were and the colour of their skin was and is shameful. If we then add the injustice of just how many were killed, so their guardians could inherit the riches, we begin to peel back more and more layers. We are taken by the hand through one particularly horrific tale to personalise it and it works. The problem is in the adding of all the details about the birth of the FBI…it made the rest of the story really difficult to follow.

The legacy of the story ? We will never know just how many of the Osage were murdered…dozens according to the records…sadly it is more likely to be hundreds…maybe thousands.

Welcome to the ‘Land of the Free’ …awful…just awful. ( )