What We’re Reading and Viewing—and Why
David Grann’s book is a masterwork of narrative nonfiction — a meticulously researched, elegantly written, and morally urgent account of the Osage Reign of Terror of the 1920s. It is also a book that forces us to confront a broader truth: the murders of Osage citizens were not an isolated tragedy but part of a larger pattern of racialized violence that shaped Oklahoma’s early history.
Although I lived in Oklahoma for four years, I never heard of this tragic story nor the Tulsa Race Massacre, which occurred in the same period of history, revealing two distinct but parallel eruptions of white supremacist brutality. The Tulsa Race Massacre was a two‑day mob assault on a prosperous Black community known as “Black Wall Street.” White mobs, some deputized, burned more than 35 blocks and killed up to 300 Black residents. One was a two‑day mob assault; the other a years-long conspiracy. Both were rooted in the same cultural soil.
The book opens with an extraordinary paradox. In the early twentieth century, the Osage Nation was, per capita, the richest community in the world. Forced from their ancestral lands and relocated to several states, eventually to what was thought to be barren territory in Oklahoma, the Osage discovered that their new home sat atop immense oil reserves.
Grann brings the Osage Reign of Terror alive, peaking between 1921 and 1926. Killings were disguised as accidents, poisonings, or unexplained illnesses. Homes were bombed. Doctors falsified death certificates. Local officials looked the other way.
For fellow writers of history, culture, and social justice — Killers of the Flower Moon offers a model of how narrative nonfiction can illuminate hidden histories. Grann’s work restores the Osage murders to national consciousness, insisting that they are essential to understanding the American story.
The book also challenges us to consider how similar dynamics persist. Wealth extraction, racialized violence, and institutional failure are not relics of the past. They are part of an ongoing struggle for justice and recognition.
Killers of the Flower Moon stands alongside two of my favorite classics: Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns — books that illuminate hidden histories and challenge dominant narratives. Grann’s contribution is distinctive in its blend of investigative journalism and literary storytelling. He brings clarity to a complex historical moment while honoring the voices of those who lived through it.
Grann ensures that the Osage murders will never again be forgotten. And for nonfiction authors, his work offers a powerful reminder of why writers must continue to uncover, preserve, and amplify the stories that shape our collective memory. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker – Million Mile Walker.
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Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon delivers a stark, unflinching account of the Osage Reign of Terror, exposing the bitter paradox at its core: a Native nation made wealthy by oil headrights became a magnet for white grifters, predators, and officials who believed their violence would never be punished. Scorsese centers the conspiracy around Ernest Burkhart, his uncle William Hale, and Mollie Kyle, revealing how personal betrayal and systemic white supremacy intertwined. The film situates these murders within a broader climate of racial terror, even referencing the Tulsa Race Massacre to remind viewers that Oklahoma’s violence was not isolated, but part of a national pattern long ignored.
Scorsese’s direction is meticulous, and his brief cameo nods to his long tradition of inserting himself into the frame. Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, working together for the first time in a Scorsese feature, deliver a tense, morally fraught dynamic. Lily Gladstone’s quiet, devastating performance anchors the film and made history as the first Native American actress nominated for an Academy Award. Extensive Osage involvement in casting, language, and cultural consultation ensures the story is told authentically rather than made up.
The film earned ten Oscar nominations, but its greatest achievement is refusing to sanitize the brutality inflicted on the Osage or the white supremacist systems that enabled it. Killers of the Flower Moon forces a reckoning with a chapter of American history that was buried for generations—and reminds us that confronting these truths is essential to any honest understanding of justice.
What They’re Saying
After 40 years raising funds for innumerable charities and serving as the President of Greater Arizona AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals), it was time for me to share my beloved library with the next generation of fundraisers through AFP’s mentor program. Keith Kerber, one of my mentees from years past, shared this note after I handed my books over: “It was such fun to share with this year’s AFP Mentees the story of how you became my mentor over the years! And what a wonderful gift you provided to these young, in-the-profession fundraisers. They were very excited to select a book from your library.” Here’s the response from some of them sent in a card titled, “Grazie”.
A Personal Note
As a part of my downsizing project, I found a series of four books with a note from Jaimie Victoria, who was the director of Save the Children when I headed up the Plan International program in Bogotá–with this note: “Mark, we wish you success, happiness, and the time to get to know Colombia with a better understanding than other visitors who came before you. Your Friend, Jaimie.” He gave me the books while visiting his modest family coffee farm outside of Bogotá on my birthday in March 1982.
The four‑volume series Las Maravillas de Colombia (Editorial Forja, 1979) is a geographically organized, descriptive survey of Colombia’s regions, directed by Peruvian writer-editor Enrique Congrains Martín with Colombian researcher Pedro Pablo Tibaquirá. It is not a conventional political or academic history, but rather a hybrid of regional history, geography, Travel writing, and cultural ethnography, aimed at a broad Colombian readership interested in understanding the country’s landscapes and regional identities.
We spent a delightful weekend with Jaime and his family, which included a chat on the balcony overlooking the coffee farm during which Jaime told us of the trials and tribulations his family endured during “La Violencia” from 1946-64 in a battle between the conservative-led state forces and paramilitaries against Liberal and guerrilla groups. This was a similar period in Guatemalan history rooted in the 1954 CIA-backed coup in support of United Fruit. In both cases, over 200,000 were killed. I read the books but still had a lot to learn about the realities of Latin America.
On a lighter note, his mother showed how to make one of my favorite dishes, fried chicken and yucca. The key was to heat the cooking oil before throwing in a ton of garlic. The yucca takes on the chicken’s flavor, which is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
Calendar:
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And, as always, if you’ve read Different Latitudes: My Life in the Peace Corps and Beyond, My Saddest Pleasures: 50 Years on the Road, the Best Travel Book according to the Peace Corps Writers, and, of course, my most recent book, The Guatemala Reader, please review and rate them on Amazon and Goodreads. My next book, My Saddest Pleasures: Expanded Edition, is in the hopper.
Shalom!
Mark D. Walker