Author: David Grann
I had always seen this book on the Top N list but somehow the title and the cover of the book didn't entice me enough to get started on it. Then recently, I was sick for a few days and had loads of time to read but not enough material. I decided to pick this one up. As I started reading it, I got so engaged that I couldn't keep it down till I had finished it. After reading "Walk in the park", I had increased interest in learning about the American Indian tribes as well.
The book starts with the life of Mollie, her sisters and her mother; and interspersed are details of the life of the Osage Tribe in general. The unfair laws that they were governed with - they were not allowed complete autonomy over their own wealth, of course how they were robbed of their land, how the little children were forced into attending schools away from their families and so on. Weaved into this story are the murders as they happen, in and around Mollie's family. Sometimes investigations are made into the murders, sometimes not. Even if investigations are done, they are dropped for some reason or another. Sometimes the investigator themselves are murdered. Osage Indians continue to bring the attention of the government to these murders and eventually, J. Edgar Hoover establishes Federal Bureau of Investigation to look into these murders. Led by Tom White. They encounter many obstacles like lack of evidence, lack of witnesses, etc. As they're collecting evidence and bring in suspects, they realize they need some database to store the fingerprints of suspects so that they can match them later to future evidence. This is when the fingerprint database was established. After much running around, they have the suspects lined up and the case goes to court. This is when they (FBI) learn that the hardest part isn't over yet.
I loved reading this book! Learning about the lives of the Osage Indians, the treatment they were meted out, how FBI came into being and so on. So many things to learn.
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