Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI by David Grann

On Monday, March 5th, the Booked for the Day Book Group met to discuss, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann.  Here are a few things we discussed during the meeting:

• So much of the history presented in this book was unknown to the group. One member lived in Oklahoma for a few years and was unaware of the story. And no one remembers in their school years being taught anything regarding the atrocities that the Osage were subjected to. That alone made this book a worthwhile read.
• We talked about the fact that this book will be made into a movie which will give this hidden chapter of Oklahoma’s history even more exposure.
• The book contains numerous photos which added to the story and brought this sad story to life.
• The group thought the book was a difficult book to read, it was heart-breaking and at the same time made us angry that things like that could happen and not that long ago. To know that the Osage had to live in constant fear, not being able to trust anyone and with no one to protect them was hard to read. And then at the end to realize that only a very few men were prosecuted and with the amount of killing that went unsolved left us feeling like we needed more closure and more information as to what really happened.
• One member thought that Grann's writing style was like a newspaper man, and the story like a newspaper account so for her the book was easy to put down and many in the group felt the same way. But they also thought the book held there attention and the amount of research Grann did was amazing.
• One member said that the story serves as a reminder that this sort of exploitation, greed and need for power cannot be repeated. Unfortunately anytime we are dealing with energy this will go on as we are still seeing with the Osage Wind Farms and the Keystone Pipelines.

These are just a few things mentioned during the discussion. Please feel free to add any of your thoughts in the comment section.