It’s a David Grann-onball

I’m reviewing two books by the same author because I am so far behind in my reviews.  In fact, I finished my cannonball last month but I need to make it count by getting these reviews submitted.  Plus, what a great post title!?

So, I first read Killers of the Flower Moon because it seemed like everyone I knew was reading it.  That wasn’t quite true but it started feeling ubiquitous so I started it in July and finished it in a few days.  David Grann wrote an outstanding work of non-fiction that wouldn’t be believable as a work of fiction.  At the very same time, he wove in the history of the FBI as it was very relevant to the story of the Osage Murders.  Just calling the events the Osage Murders feels like a disservice to the memory of the entire Osage Nation.  A period of time known as the Reign of Terror saw least 60 members of the Osage Nation were murdered from 1921 to 1925.  This took place just a decade or so after a huge oil deposit was discovered on Osage land and the Nation became quite wealthy.  That part is nearly as awful as the murders as the Osage were appointed guardians by the US Congress(!!!) as it was believed that the Osage could not manage their own wealth.

Grann takes all of this creates a brilliant account that both captivates and sheds light on this horror from our not to distant past.

The Lost City of Z is an earlier book by Grann that looks at the life of explorer Percy Fawcett and his obsession with discovering a legendary lost city in the Amazon rainforest.  It follows the life of Fawcett while interspersing Grann’s own account about how he tried to follow in Fawcett’s footsteps.  I read this book because I loved Killers of the Flower Moon and I was not disappointed.  Grann writes an outstanding story even when confined by the facts of real life.  It is some of the best non-fiction that I’ve read.