Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann was an incredible book, both in its writing style and its verity. The book split the story in three parts: the murders, the investigation, and an afterword, about the author-reporter David Grann and his subsequent investigations related to this issue. This book was primarily about the Reign of Terror on the Osage between 1921-1925 and subsequently provided history on the FBI, which was birthed out of this set of murders. In theme with my last book, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Killers of the Flower Moon exemplified how Native Americans have been deceived and swindled over time. The murders of this book took place after the Osage were relocated to a reservation; after the ongoing wearing-down of their culture and way of life.
First, the Osage were placed on their reservation, which appeared to be worthless. Each Osage was given an allotment and associated "headrights" per Osage person to their land and the earth beneath their lot. Additionally, all Osage were required to have a 'guardian' who was white, who managed all spending. This ended up creating an "Indian business" in which white people would overcharge the people they were 'guarding' (p261). Once oil was uncovered on Osage land, headrights were coveted by everyone and white people began marrying into Osage families to acquire headrights to oil-rich land. Ultimately, this is the story of how Osage were murdered for their wealth. Osage were murdered via poison, gunshot wounds, or worse, by their own spouses and neighbors. While the book focused on the 24 murders which took place between 1921 and 1925, the author reveals that, through his studies, "over 605 Osage people were murdered for their headrights between 1907 and 1923, averaging 38 people murdered per year" (p283). As a descendent of Mollie Burkhart, whose family was the center of this book, said, "This land is saturated with blood," (p291).
This book was incredible. My review is short because I lost all my notes 3/4 of the way through. I highly recommend. Many thanks to my Grandma, Anne, for originally recommending this book.