Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 12/10/2018 + 1184 more book reviews

This was really a shocking story about what happened to the Osage Indians in Oklahoma in the 1920s. The Osage at that time were the richest people per capita in the world. They received their wealth from the oil that was discovered under their land. Many of them had multiple vehicles, chauffeurs, servants, built mansions, and sent their children away to school. But then the Osage began to be systematically murdered for their wealth. This book focuses on the family of Mollie Burkhart whose sisters and mother were all killed in a conspiracy to obtain their oil rights. The killings eventually brought in the Bureau of Investigation which would later become the FBI. The chief investigator, Tom White, was sent there by J. Edgar Hoover and was able to identify a conspiracy among the well-respected citizenry of the county and the case was eventually closed. The official number of Osage that were killed was 24 but Grann was able to determine that hundreds were probably killed and that the conspiracy of killing was much more widespread.

What happened to the Osage is pretty much forgotten today although it was included in the movie The FBI Story from 1959 which starred Jimmy Stewart. This book was both shocking and engrossing. It was a real page-turner that read like a murder mystery. It masterfully told a forgotten part of the many atrocities that were suffered by the Native Americans at the hand of greedy and despicable people looking for easy money. I would highly recommend this one.

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