How do I choose books to read? It's mainly based on recommendation but sometimes circumstance and coincidence come into play.
This is one of those circumstance and coincidence instances:
Last year while exploring NYC's Little Italy with friends, we got caught in a downpour and ran into the closest establishment. We sat down at the bar, ordered some drinks, struck up conversations with the wait staff (not many people in the place), and a young man who was sitting a couple seats from us. He joined our group.
The young man had a book with him, Killers of the Flower Moon. In my geekiness, I mentioned that the Flower Moon would be the full moon in the night's sky. We briefly talked about the book and at by end of the day, I had ordered it.
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.
One by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances.
In this last remnant of the Wild West, where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes, many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll climbed to more than twenty-four, the FBI took up the case. It was one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations and the bureau badly bungled the case. In desperation, the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only American Indian agents in the bureau. The agents infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.
In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. Each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it reveals the callousness and prejudice toward American Indians that allowed the murderers to operate with exemption from punishment for so long. Killers of the Flower Moon is so compelling, but also emotionally devastating.
The movie based on this book is coming out in October. I will go to the cinematic version knowing that once again the cruelty and inhumanity caused by greed and prejudice guides the rich and powerful.
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