I read Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann in June 2023, and it shook me in ways I did not expect. I thought I was picking up a true crime story. What I found instead was a brutal chapter of American history that I was not aware of and that proved to be the most challenging part of all.

The book chronicles the Osage murders in the 1920s a series of killings fueled by greed, racism, and a staggering betrayal of trust. Oil had made the Osage people some of the wealthiest individuals in the U.S., and one by one, they were being systematically erased.

I had to put this book down more than once. Sometimes I had to walk away from it completely, close the cover, and take a few days to process what I was reading. This wasn’t just a story from history it mirrored the patterns of silence and disregard that still surround us.

David Grann writes with precision and care, but he doesn’t cushion the truth. He exposes it layer by layer letting the horror unfold slowly, relentlessly. What’s most haunting is how normal everything seemed to those who benefited from the crimes. That quiet evil, dressed in politeness and law, was chilling.

Killers of the Flower Moon is a book that sits heavily. It doesn’t offer resolution. It offers remembrance. And for that, I’m glad I stayed with it even though it hurt to read.

Some stories are told not for comfort, but for accountability. This was one of them.

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