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Post by jones on Apr 16, 2017 18:36:06 GMT -5
Review: 'Killers of the Flower Moon,' by David GrannNONFICTION: New Yorker writer David Grann delves into mysterious killings on the oil-rich Osage reservation in Oklahoma in the 1920s. APRIL 14, 2017
In the 1870s, the Osage Indians were forced off their land in Kansas — land they had been forced onto just a few decades earlier. This time, they were sent to live on a rocky, arid reservation in Oklahoma. The new land was barren, the buffalo had been depleted, and the Indians began to starve. And then someone discovered oil.
Money poured in. Prospectors paid the Osage for oil leases and royalties, and by the start of the 20th century every member of the tribe was receiving healthy quarterly checks. They built magnificent houses, bought cars, hired servants. Suddenly, the Oklahoma Osage were among the richest people in the world. But wherever there are Indians with anything — land, animals and, especially, money and oil rights — there are white people ready to fleece them. David Grann’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” tells the horrifying story of mass murder in Gray Horse, Okla. Over a period of five years in the 1920s, more than two dozen Osage Indians were killed — poisoned, shot, blown up, hit by cars — for their money and oil rights. . . In the early 1920s, Osage Indians began dying in so many unusual ways and in such high numbers that the tribe dubbed it the Siege of Terror.
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Post by jones on Aug 7, 2017 15:56:09 GMT -5
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI At my suggestion, our nearest public library purchased this book, and I finished reading it a few weeks ago. I was amazed at the unbridled treachery (cold-blooded murder) the Osage experienced at the hands of greedy ranchers, corrupt law men, politicians and judges. Even the Governor of Oklahoma was a part of the scheming to steal oil leases from the Osage. I've read very few books so well researched. www.amazon.com/Killers-Flower-Moon-Osage-Murders/dp/0385534248
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Post by grahamew on Aug 11, 2017 7:58:27 GMT -5
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Post by dT on Sept 25, 2017 18:30:05 GMT -5
Wow!! What a story. This is incredible. It's understandable - the same old human depravity and greed. But still incredible. Thanks for posting this. Worthy of special prayers.
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Post by Californian on Nov 30, 2018 22:36:57 GMT -5
fascinating story - well written review Grahame, congratulations
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Post by emilylevine on Dec 1, 2018 14:06:26 GMT -5
I was disappointed in this book. Maybe there was just so much hype about it. Grann seemed to think that he had made some big discovery. And was surprised when his story about a single family led him to the fact that it was part of a widespread pattern of murder in Osage country.
For those interested in the Osage murders, I suggest Choctaw novelist Linda Hogan's 1991 Pulitzer Prize "Mean Spirit."
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Post by Californian on Dec 2, 2018 10:38:30 GMT -5
thank you Emily for the suggestion, I shall check it out
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