Review
Author: David Grann
Reviewed by: SHA
Issue: September 2017
In the 1870s, the Osage Indian Nation were driven from their lands in Kansas to a rocky, infertile reservation in northeastern Oklahoma. Many years later, this land turned out to be sitting on some of the largest oil deposits in the United States. Since the Osage owned the land and the mineral rights, they quickly became very rich, raking in substantial money from their "headrights." The U.S. Government, however, prevented the Osage from controlling that money, requiring that each member of the Osage tribe be assigned a white guardian, purportedly to protect them from mismanagement. The law, however, invited abuse: Kickbacks, stealing, skimming, marriages arranged with Osage women, and murder. Local lawyers, businessmen and politicians finagled to be guardians to enrich themselves. From 1921 to 1925, at least two dozen Osage met suspicious death, and fearing corrupt representations at the local level, tribal leaders asked the federal government for help. Enter the fledgling Bureau of Investigation headed by J. Edgar Hoover. Later to be called the FBI, Hoover wanted the investigation of the Osage murders (also called the Osage "Reign of Terror") to be a showcase for the Bureau to build its reach and reputation, and a team of agents headed by Tom White were sent in to unravel the mystery. White organized an undercover team to infiltrate the region and, with help from the Osage, exposed one of the more sinister conspiracies in American history, characterized by greed, depravity and serial murder. Journalist David Grann has done his homework on this murderous rampage, reporting on the killings, the investigation, the trials and convictions on these events, which were revelations to this reader. Killers of the Flower Moon is superb narrative nonfiction and an indictment of the callous manner in which Native Americans were treated.