This book was suggested by my Dad and my Pop, who have great taste in books. My Pop suggested the book to Dad, who then suggested it to me while we were in a bookstore. I read the first section in one go. Let's talk about the Osage murders.
This was an amazing nonfiction about the Osage Murders and the creation of the FBI. J. Edgar Hoover used the Osage Murders (or at least 24 of them) to build up himself and the FBI. This book details one man's deep dive into the whole period of Osage Murders. The Osage tribes picked land, kept oil rights, and then became rich in black gold (oil), which motivated the corrupt law and business owners to steal and kill. You could only inherit headrights, so there were multiple plots to kill Osage. The man who wrote this book found out that 100s of murders had happened to get headrights - and discovered some answers for some of the cases. Other cases hadn't been investigated at all, leaving no answers for the remaining Osage tribe in Pawhuska, who still remember the whole reign of terror.
Why this was a quick read
Normally, I don't read nonfiction quick. Believe me, I find it interesting, but I don't read it quick. This book was a quick read because David Grann writes narrative nonfiction, meaning the story unfolds like a mystery novel. It isn't dry reading and it drives you to keep going. I finished one section in one reading session.
Narrative nonfiction is when you feel like you are reading fiction and you have some elements of suspense within the storyline. Only it isn't fiction at all. I annotated this book and underlined parts. I was fully interested and invested in the storyline and subject, which makes a huge difference when you read nonfiction. If you don't like a subject, don't pick it up. I was fully into this subject, picking it up even while waiting for dinner to be ready.
Why this was so fascinating to me
The Osage murders are obscure history. That alone makes me invested. It's also true crime, which is also a fascination of mine. This hit two sweet spots for me. This event was skewed by US history books and not included in many of them - despite the fact that so many newspapers covered it and it was a huge conspiracy to kill the Osage for headrights. It was not a small event. The Osage in Pawhuska remember it because so many murders were never solved. The author of this book uncovered more that were never investigated. He even found some answers in the process; not many, just some.
The fact that a long string of Osage deaths didn't make it to our history textbooks is shocking, but also not shocking. History skews toward the person writing it. Basically, the US treated native americans so badly throughout time that textbooks don't talk about it. How much of the west is land stolen from native americans? The land rush was Cherokee land, Laura Ingall's family was squatting on Osage land, and Jefferson tricked land away from one tribe to get a lot of northwestern states. It's sad. The US hunted buffalo to literally screw over native americans. We are the reason we have to breed them. Long story short, the US does not like to mention the native american history, the history of us literally stealing land and shoving people groups onto small plots of land. The fact we don't commonly discuss a long string of Osage murders in history class shouldn't shock you, but it does make me sad.
Conclusion
This was an amazing, fun read that made me think. It made me think about how we shouldn't put political figures on pedestals - mostly because some of our past leaders took advantage of native americans to screw them over. It also made me look at events like Laura Ingalls' books and the land rush in a light that made me a little upset. I didn't actually realize how much the US stole from native americans. It makes me understand why the Kiowa and Comanche terrorized the Ilano (a strip of land few live in) to make settlers leave. History's main characters have a dark side. Don't idolize humans. Also, the western trope of crooked law enforcement was real, since some law enforcement were criminals themselves.
This was a great true crime nonfiction and you should all read it, especially if you like obscure history.
Cheers!
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Morrow is released! This novella is the story of two women writing a family history for the Morrow family. They find a nasty secret while researching. Will they survive their internship?
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