Killers of the Flower Moon: Oil, Money, Murder and the Birth of the FBI
£5.70
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN NON-FICTION
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION
**SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE DIRECTED BY MARTIN SCORSESE STARRING LEONARDO DICAPRIO AND ROBERT DE NIRO**
‘A riveting true story of greed, serial murder and racial injustice’ JON KRAKAUER
‘A fiercely entertaining mystery story and a wrenching exploration of evil’ KATE ATKINSON
‘A fascinating account of a tragic and forgotten chapter in the history of the American West’ JOHN GRISHAM
From the bestselling author of The Lost City of Z, now a major film starring Charlie Hunnam, Sienna Miller and Robert Pattison, and the Number One international bestseller The Wager, comes a true-life murder story which became one of the FBI’s first major homicide investigations.
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions and sent their children to study in Europe.
Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. As the death toll climbed, the FBI took up the case. But the bureau badly bungled the investigation. In desperation, its young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to unravel the mystery. Together with the Osage he and his undercover team began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.
‘David Grann has a razor-keen instinct for suspense’ LOUISE ERDRICH
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Additional information
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster UK (20 April 2017) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 43805 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 114 pages |
by Jules of Stockport
Bought this book on a whim. Having seen the trailer for the movie and wanted to know more, and after reading what I could about the history online, I decided to buy the book. Not my usual reading material, but something about it kept my attention, so I decided to buy the book.
Segmented into 3 parts; Some* of the murders based around 1 family, the eventual investigation by the FBI predecessor, and finally the investigation almost a century later by the report/author.
*Many more occurred that aren’t covered, but are mentioned in the book.
This was a captivating read. I had never heard of the Osage Indians. Being British, I was aware of some of the American history, relating to Indian tribes, land grabs, oil, but not how all 3 combined into a horrific set of events incorporating racism, greed and murder on a mass scale, showing just how evil some humans can be.
I think I truly annoyed my family on holiday, with my gasps of horror when a new twist in the story was revealed. One of the few books that I believe I will remember reading for a long time. Has to be read to be believe.
Despite the book falling apart, pages started falling out of the front of the book, got approx. 30 loose pages now that I keep having to pick up off the floor, I’ve still giving this book 5 stars.
I can’t recommend this book enough.
by Kenneth mc Donald
Great read looking forward to seeing the movie
by susan
The book is in depth and can be read at leisure and re- read. Terrible crimes, motivated by greed and evil.
by Hande Z
The Osage Indians were a tribe of Indians in Oklahoma. They were different from other tribes because the land reserved to their tribe was rich in oil. How rich were they? According to this book, the press reported during the material time, namely, the 1920s that, ‘every eleven American owned a car whereas every Osage Indian owned eleven cars’. In 1923 alone the tribe’s revenue reached US$30m, the equivalent of US$400m at today’s rate. They were rich enough to attract greedy outsiders. People greedy enough to plot the vilest of plots – mass murder.
This is a fascinating book that the reader might be tempted to verify whether it was a true story (it is) or a fictionalised account based on a true story. The story revolves around the murder of the members of Mollie Burkhart’s family. Mollie, an Osage Indian married to a white man, Earnest Burkhart, whose devotion to her was described by the author as remarkable. The official count was 24 Osage Indians (and some investigators) were killed. The author’s investigation led him to reports that claimed a much higher figure. The author David Grann’s book ‘The Lost City of Z’ about the true story of a British explorer lost in the Amazon jungle (Vintage 2010) was a best-seller but Grann has been criticised by ‘The Spectator’ for taking liberties and exaggeration. It seems that Grann has learnt from that. He seems to let the facts speak for themselves in this book.
The person principally behind the crimes was William Hale. He hired gangs to do his bidding. The book mixes the murders as they unfold, with the investigations that follow; but soon, the investigators were also killed. This made the entire crime scene so huge and immense that a special investigation with very special investigators were required. Enter, J Edgar Hoover.
Although the blurb on the book jacket claims that the book is also about the birth of the FBI, in fact, it describes how the investigation was a mess until Hoover appointed Tom White to take over. White was a former Texas Ranger. But the book also describes how lawless America was in the 1920s when many parts of America resisted the formation of a professional police force. They fear oppression by the police and prefer to investigate crimes as citizens. Grann writes: citizens responded to a hue and cry by chasing after suspects. Benjamin Cardozo, the future Supreme Court justice, once noted that these pursuits were made “not faintly and with lagging steps, but honestly and bravely and with whatever implements and facilities are convenient and at hand”. Tom White was the main hero. Who were the villains? Hale was not alone.
As if all that were not enough reason to read this book, stay tuned. The book has its twists and turns, and the stories about Mollie and her tribe, the murders and their investigations, the investigators and their perseverance, lead to trials that form almost a different book. The Osage Indians believed that it was the moon that kills the flowers in May. The killings of Osage Indians in May 1921 gave the play to the title of this book. How apt it is may only be appreciated after the reader has reached what appears to be the end of the book – the conviction of the persons charged for the murders of the Osage Indians. But the story is far from finished. Hale and Tom White were to meet again. Several deeper layers of conspiracy not mentioned in the FBI reports had still to be uncovered. The book is absorbing, and there were, in the author’s words, ‘plots within plots’ aplenty.
by Mr. Michael Gover
An important story that needed to be told. The murderers should have served whole life terms, and it is appalling that they were ultimately released.
Not all known cases lead to prosecution. Even worse, looking at the astonishing number of unexplained deaths, the book makes a case that the number of murders was in the hundreds, not dozens. It is too late now, but if the book had come out in, say, the 1950s, it might have lead to more prosecutions.
It is a bit dry in tone. The author keeps to the facts and backs up what he says with references. I think this was the right thing to do.
If you want the atmosphere of what it was like in Osage county in the 1920s then do see the movie, which does the book justice. And if you have only seen the movie, now read the book.
It is a measure of the extent to which the movie holds your attention that very few of those in the cinema with me took a comfort break in three and a half hours.
by Gloucester75
Informative about a strange piece of American history when an American Indian tribe pushed far west by settlers ended up on a piece of rough looking piece of land that turned out to be rich in oil. This provoked murderous plots to get the oil riches from the tribe. If I have a criticism it is the layout of the kindle edition is confusing, most of the information is on “page 2” which is of cause absurd.
by Fair Comment
Fascinating book, so much American native history revealed
by blushift
Having read and enjoyed his previous book about amazonian explorations I thought I’d give this a go,and I’m happy that I did.
This is an excellent account of the greed and murders that took place amongst the oil rich American Indians in the Osage area of Oklahoma at the beginning of the 20th century.
However I have taken a star off because in the book it mentions a photograph on the titles page that is not in this edition, so my experience of the book felt incomplete.