Tag: Killers of the Flower Moon

Book Recommendation: The Devil and Sherlock Holmes

This is the third book that I have read from David Grann. He wrote The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon, as well. This book is a collection of articles that he had written for various publications between 2000 and 2009 and some of them have already been adapted for the screen (Trial by Fire in 2018, Dark Crimes in 2016, and The Old Man and the Gun in 2018).

The book features twelve true stories. Each a bit different from the other. Admittedly, some were better than others, but I still enjoyed it. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

Acclaimed New Yorker writer and author of the breakout debut bestseller The Lost City of Z, David Grann offers a collection of spellbinding narrative journalism.

Whether he’s reporting on the infiltration of the murderous Aryan Brotherhood into the U.S. prison system, tracking down a chameleon con artist in Europe, or riding in a cyclone-tossed skiff with a scientist hunting the elusive giant squid, David Grann revels in telling stories that explore the nature of obsession and that piece together true and unforgettable mysteries.

Each of the dozen stories in this collection reveals a hidden and often dangerous world and, like Into Thin Air and The Orchid Thief, pivots around the gravitational pull of obsession and the captivating personalities of those caught in its grip. There is the world’s foremost expert on Sherlock Holmes who is found dead in mysterious circumstances; an arson sleuth trying to prove that a man about to be executed is innocent, and sandhogs racing to complete the brutally dangerous job of building New York City’s water tunnels before the old system collapses. Throughout, Grann’s hypnotic accounts display the power-and often the willful perversity-of the human spirit.

Compulsively readable, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant mosaic of ambition, madness, passion, and folly.

Also featured in the book is the story of a NYC fireman whose entire station was killed in the Twin Towers on 9/11. He awakens not knowing how or why he survived. There is a story in the book for sports fans, too, about the great base stealer Ricky Henderson.

All in all, it was a good read with a variety of true stories. If you like non-fiction, you might enjoy this one.

Book Recommendation: Killers of the Flower Moon

This title kept showing up as a “must read” by my friends. It also started showing up as a recommendation on Goodreads. Then I heard it was a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro and I figured it was time to check it out.

This book was fascinating, sad, and eye opening. I was completely unfamiliar with this story. David Grann, who wrote The Wager (which I really enjoyed), does a great job of presenting this true story almost as a “mystery.”

Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history.
 
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, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

Then, one by one, they began to be killed off. One Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, watched as her family was murdered. Her older sister was shot. Her mother was then slowly poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances.

In this last remnant of the Wild West—where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes such as Al Spencer, “the Phantom Terror,” roamed – virtually anyone who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly created F.B.I. took up the case, in what became one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations. But the bureau was then notoriously corrupt and initially bungled the case. Eventually the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only Native American agents in the bureau. They infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest modern techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most sinister 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. The book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward Native Americans that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long. Killers of the Flower Moon is utterly riveting, but also emotionally devastating.

It was a very good read. If you love history or Historical Non-fiction, you will enjoy this one!

I’ve read mixed reviews on the movie, so I’m on the fence about watching it.