Dana Reyes★ Contributor · Lv 4
todayReads like a thriller and lands like an indictment. I couldn't stop and couldn't look away.
Nonfiction
Killers of the Flower Moon
by David Grann
4.7· 1,882 ratings
Published 2017350 pagesEnglishGripping · Chilling
The blood cries out from the ground.
Why read it
In 1920s Oklahoma, the Osage were the richest people per capita on earth thanks to the oil beneath their land, and then, one by one, they began to be murdered, and the death toll climbed into the dozens.
The big idea
Grann reconstructs the systematic killing of Osage people for their oil wealth and the fledgling FBI investigation that followed, exposing a conspiracy that reached into the heart of the community. It is narrative history that indicts a nation's greed and racism while restoring the victims to memory.
The story behind it
Published in 2017 after years of archival research, it was a finalist for the National Book Award and a major bestseller. Martin Scorsese adapted it into an acclaimed 2023 film.
What you’ll take away
- 01
Wealth as a target
The takeaway is how Osage oil headrights made their owners marks for a calculated campaign of murder.
- 02
The birth of the FBI
The case became an early proving ground for J. Edgar Hoover's Bureau of Investigation.
- 03
A conspiracy of trust
The killers were often the victims' own guardians, spouses, and neighbors.
- 04
The uncounted dead
Grann's own research suggests the murders far exceeded the official tally.
From the book
The murder of Mollie Burkhart's family, whose relatives were poisoned, shot, and blown up one after another.
Agent Tom White's undercover investigation that exposed local cattleman William Hale as a mastermind.
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