Monday, August 28, 2017

Killers of the Flower Moon | August 2017

Author: David Gann

One-sentence summary: Osage Indians begin to be murdered at an alarming rate in the 1920s after becoming rich from oil rights; the FBI is able to solve at least a few of the murders and uncover a conspiracy against the Indians for their money.

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7

Our favorite thing about it: The history we learned about the Osage tribe as well as the prejudices of the time and the intricacies of fighting for justice at this time in American History.

Our least favorite thing about it: Sometimes too much detail and back story, which bogged us down and made the book too long/not as concise as it could have been.

Main Topics of Discussion: Marriage Relationships, the 1920s in America, Corruption, American Indians and our Government, Guardianship of Oil Money, Injustice, Discrimination

Our favorite quote: “The world’s richest people per capita were becoming the world’s most murdered.”

Notes: We enjoyed the history about this time period and the history of the Osage tribe as well as the beginnings of the FBI. We do wish that a little more editing had been done to the book so that the story was “tighter” and not so bloated with facts that, although interesting, were further removed from the main plot. Other things we discussed:

1. We thought there were a lot of characters and some of us had trouble keeping them all straight.
2. The discrimination that the Indians faced at this time in our history was staggering. Just hearing the specific details about how they were treated was eye-opening. The one that made our blood boil was the guardianship that the government placed on full-blood Osage so that they were not in control of their own money.
3. We found it crazy the lengths people (white men, usually) would go to in order to get their hands on the extreme wealth of the Osage. Marrying an Osage, having children with them, and living with them for more than a decade. Or killing them in cold blood and paying off countless people to cover the tracks. It was all pretty shocking.
4. We felt the helplessness of the Osage when they were not able to get justice for so long and lived in literal fear for their lives. What a terrible injustice.

Memorable Meeting Moments: We got to admire Amberly’s new sofa and got our green “Girls Just Wanna Have Sun” tanks.

What We Ate: Amberly made stuffed Cornish hens for each of us along with Pioneer Woman’s mashed potatoes and roasted brussels sprouts with bacon. She also had a peach, mozzarella and avocado mix with balsamic. We had macarons in various flavors for dessert.




No comments: