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Killers of the Flower Moon

the Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
Jul 20, 2017
This book is not for the faint-hearted. Revealing a story about men who married in order to inherit the oil fortune from the soon to be deceased brides and their relations, it shows us the depths of human depravity and greed. Mr Grann does not skimp on the grisly details and it amazes me that this story was all but forgotten. It was not forgotten, however, by the descendants of the survivors. In focusing on these people at the end of his narrative, the author honors the memory of the victims. Including the haunting portraits of some of them added poignancy. The triangular structure of the book was an interesting idea. In the first part we learn of the victims, the crimes and the land. In the second the judicial system's activities to bring the perpetrators to justice. And then in the third we learn how much justice was never achieved. This oversight was due largely to institutional racism. And when I reflected on the reluctance of the jury to apply the death penalty to Indian killers, I began to wonder how many of those jurors were killers themselves. Mr. Grann took the unusual path of including a narrative about his own journey through this thicket of horror. I think this makes the book all the more compelling. A first person account is always more vivid and I am grateful that he took the chance.