We had a good size group for discussion on this book, fifteen members were present.
This nonfiction book told the story about the Osage people in Oklahoma and the murders that happened because of their wealth from oil under their land and greed from people like, William Hale, who killed to get the money.
One member said she generally doesn't read nonfiction but liked the historical information and the FBI history in the book. Instead of listening to the book, as she normally does, she liked the pictures in the book, so enjoyed reading it and learning so much. But the biggest question to most of the members about the book was "Why wasn't this talked about in history classes in school?" "Why haven't we heard of this more in history?" "Why was there such a cover-up?" Native Americans have had a lot to endure, one person commented. One member said this is the 3rd book club she has read the book for discussion. She said it makes me sick what we did to American Indians. The book was a good history lesson. One person said most in the story were a part of the cover-up, lots of corruption another said, even the doctors. Another said, "How did this happen and I didn't hear about it -- I am a history buff." Another agreed, and she has a "high learning curve and had never heard of this, and by comments, most of us here had never heard of this."
A member said she thought it was so well-written, David Grann did a great job pulling it all together and made it as readable as a novel. "I never read a nonfiction that was a page turner" another agreed and said it was hard to put down. Some in the group found a video to watch about this, and they found there was so much more about Tom White in the book, verses the video hardly mentioned him at all. Although some in the group said it was hard to figure out who was who in the book, it was hard to keep the story line straight.
There was a discussion about the FBI and J Edgar Hoover. Glad that the book covered this.
We talked about the Flower Moon, it is a May moon, when the flowers are just blooming. We talked about the time the flowers were blooming but were hammered down to earth with the killings. Each tribe had different names for the Moons.
The Osage now had money with the oil money -- some had 11 cars. Someone said that when they wanted a car, they pointed to it and say, I want it that color and pointed to their blankets. All the cars were black until that time, this was the time cars started to have them painted different colors.
The Osage weren't being treated as whole human beings someone said through all of this. They were not given their money, they had to have a "guardian" that had to approve their spending. They were only able to spend a couple thousand if they could get their money. If you were married to a white person, they could be your guardian. But, the Osage were considered the happiest of people, they didn't need money, a member said.
Someone said it was good to read the Native American perspective on this. Tom White separated the facts, he listened and sorted through hear say and facts. He was diligent about it. He was smart, he chose undercover cops. They were honest. People were so afraid, even generations after.
Even after all these murders, Hale was sentenced to prison, not to death, which was the custom of the time. He was released after a short amount of time, too. At first Hale gave good first impressions, helpful, a good guy, raised his nephew, he had charisma, but all of these things he needed to do to carry off the murders. He had the Osage best interest at heart (they thought) so they trusted him. He betrayed them. He had the politicians in his pocket, and if he didn't they were afraid of him. It was so easy to poison those he murdered. There was no coroner, no evidence, you found out days later, the doctors were corrupt, there was no oversights. Everyone was corrupt.
We talked about Oklahoma and the Osage Indians. There are 5 million Native American and 78% live outside reservations someone said. Someone said there was a National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City that is worth seeing, too.
This nonfiction book told the story about the Osage people in Oklahoma and the murders that happened because of their wealth from oil under their land and greed from people like, William Hale, who killed to get the money.
One member said she generally doesn't read nonfiction but liked the historical information and the FBI history in the book. Instead of listening to the book, as she normally does, she liked the pictures in the book, so enjoyed reading it and learning so much. But the biggest question to most of the members about the book was "Why wasn't this talked about in history classes in school?" "Why haven't we heard of this more in history?" "Why was there such a cover-up?" Native Americans have had a lot to endure, one person commented. One member said this is the 3rd book club she has read the book for discussion. She said it makes me sick what we did to American Indians. The book was a good history lesson. One person said most in the story were a part of the cover-up, lots of corruption another said, even the doctors. Another said, "How did this happen and I didn't hear about it -- I am a history buff." Another agreed, and she has a "high learning curve and had never heard of this, and by comments, most of us here had never heard of this."
A member said she thought it was so well-written, David Grann did a great job pulling it all together and made it as readable as a novel. "I never read a nonfiction that was a page turner" another agreed and said it was hard to put down. Some in the group found a video to watch about this, and they found there was so much more about Tom White in the book, verses the video hardly mentioned him at all. Although some in the group said it was hard to figure out who was who in the book, it was hard to keep the story line straight.
There was a discussion about the FBI and J Edgar Hoover. Glad that the book covered this.
We talked about the Flower Moon, it is a May moon, when the flowers are just blooming. We talked about the time the flowers were blooming but were hammered down to earth with the killings. Each tribe had different names for the Moons.
The Osage now had money with the oil money -- some had 11 cars. Someone said that when they wanted a car, they pointed to it and say, I want it that color and pointed to their blankets. All the cars were black until that time, this was the time cars started to have them painted different colors.
The Osage weren't being treated as whole human beings someone said through all of this. They were not given their money, they had to have a "guardian" that had to approve their spending. They were only able to spend a couple thousand if they could get their money. If you were married to a white person, they could be your guardian. But, the Osage were considered the happiest of people, they didn't need money, a member said.
Someone said it was good to read the Native American perspective on this. Tom White separated the facts, he listened and sorted through hear say and facts. He was diligent about it. He was smart, he chose undercover cops. They were honest. People were so afraid, even generations after.
Even after all these murders, Hale was sentenced to prison, not to death, which was the custom of the time. He was released after a short amount of time, too. At first Hale gave good first impressions, helpful, a good guy, raised his nephew, he had charisma, but all of these things he needed to do to carry off the murders. He had the Osage best interest at heart (they thought) so they trusted him. He betrayed them. He had the politicians in his pocket, and if he didn't they were afraid of him. It was so easy to poison those he murdered. There was no coroner, no evidence, you found out days later, the doctors were corrupt, there was no oversights. Everyone was corrupt.
We talked about Oklahoma and the Osage Indians. There are 5 million Native American and 78% live outside reservations someone said. Someone said there was a National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City that is worth seeing, too.
