January 2026 Selection - Killers of the Flower Moon

"Killers of the Flower Moon" is not the usual rant about how, in their quest to claim the frontier, U.S. pioneers drove Native Americans out of their homelands. The book, by investigative journalist David Grann, details the murder of members of the Osage Tribe of Oklahoma.

During the first few years of the 20th century, the Osage were the richest people per capita on earth. They lived in mansions, rode through the small towns of Osage County in chariots and employed servants. The money came from U.S. government payments for leaseholds on the land, which produced a seemingly endless supply of oil.
Then, in the years 1921--1926 and probably longer, the Osage became the victims of shootings and poisoning. Their bodies were found in ravines and hillsides; they were also poisoned by doctors and caretakers. The "white man" wanted childless Osage dead so that he could steal their headrights. Every registered member of the tribe had one - it was a share of the tribe's wealth that could be inherited but not sold.

Ultimately, the carnage was found to have been planned my multiple people working together in a conspiracy. Businessmen eager for the money hired doctors and "hitmen." The narrator, Mollie Burkhart, had to bury three of her sisters and her mother; both her husband and brother-in-law were found to have been involved in the conspiracy. Others were paid to sabotage the government's efforts to solve the case. In 1925, the FBI, under J. edgar Hoover, which had been formed solely for the purpose of solving the "Osage Murder Case," became involved.
The book is a shocking expose of what both criminals and the government will do to hide serious wrongdoing.

We are meeting from 10 a.m. to noon Jan. 24 at the Brewing Mart in Basemar. It has good coffee and tea and isn't usually too crowded. After discussing the book, we will have "social time" and choose the next book and time and place. Organizer does not have any "agenda."