Name: Nick Perronteau's review of Killers of the Flower Moon (Movie Tie-in Edition) by David Grann
Item: Killers of the Flower Moon (Movie Tie-in Edition)
Rating: 4
Author: Nick Perronteau

David Grann

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SOON TO BE A MARTIN SCORSESE PICTURE • A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history from the author of The Wager and The Lost City of Z “A shocking whodunit…What more could fans of true-crime thrillers ask?”—USA Today “A masterful work of literary journalism crafted with the urgency of a mystery.” —The Boston Globe In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. One of her relatives was shot. Another was poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent who infiltrated the region, and together with the Osage began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. Look for David Grann’s latest bestselling book, The Wager!

The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

Killers of the Flower Moon (Movie Tie-in Edition)

Jerilynn Hallett 

Nick Perronteau

Hunty

I picked this up because of the new movie - which, based on previews and advertising, to me seemed to be about Ernest Burkhart and his love for his wife that drove his investigation into the Osage murders. 

For much of the book, I caught myself gasping as new pieces of evidence were revealed, interspersed with outrage at the government’s treatment of the Osage natives. Disconnected across time and space, I was reading this as a thriller, a murder mystery. Then, I got to the part where Grann discusses his conversations with Margie Burkhart, the daughter of Mollie and Ernest’s son. 

“When Ernest died, in 1986, he was cremated, and his ashes were given to Cowboy in a box. Ernest had left instructions with Cowboy to spread them around the Osage Hills. ‘Those ashes were in the house for days, just sitting there,’ Margie recalled. ‘Finally, one night my dad got real mad and took the box and just chucked it over a bridge.’” (pg. 271)

This passage moved me to tears. This little boy who saw his family murdered, only to find out his own father was involved, had to contend with his father’s humanity and dying wishes and his own rage at what his father had done. There is no justice here, no comfortable conclusion. The pain of the Reign of Terror is still viscerally felt today by its victim’s descendants. 

I don’t know how I continue to be shocked by just how inhumane our government and our people’s treatment of the Native Americans was (and still is). Hundreds of Osage were murdered in cold blood and never got justice. The white perpetrators just made off with their money and left the victim’s families to struggle. This one of the many disgraceful scars on our country’s legacy.

Jerilynn Hallett &
Killers of the Flower Moon (Movie Tie-in Edition) by David Grann

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Jerilynn Hallett &Killers of the Flower Moon (Movie Tie-in Edition) by David Grann

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Jerilynn Hallett &
Killers of the Flower Moon (Movie Tie-in Edition) by David Grann