--- title: "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann Is Extraordinary description: The author's new nonfiction book is about the murders of members of the Osage tribe in Oklahoma and the birth of the FBI canonical: https://time.com/4737945/killers-flower-moon-david-grann-review/ author: Claire Howorth article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-13T10:57:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:22:54.032Z article:section: Ideas og:title: David Grann’s 'Killers of the Flower Moon' Is Extraordinary og:description: A cinematic book about the murders of the Osage tribe and the formation of the FBI og:url: https://time.com/4737945/killers-flower-moon-david-grann-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt950b702260a5967b/6988c28d656a3f8125bcf86d/killer-of-the-flower-moon-david-grann.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2650 og:image:height: 1491 og:image:alt: killer-of-the-flower-moon-david-grann og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: David Grann’s 'Killers of the Flower Moon' Is Extraordinary twitter:description: A cinematic book about the murders of the Osage tribe and the formation of the FBI twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt950b702260a5967b/6988c28d656a3f8125bcf86d/killer-of-the-flower-moon-david-grann.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # David Grann’s _Killers of the Flower Moon_ Is Unsurprisingly Extraordinary > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=f4946e5f-df36-4b73-8ccd-3e1ce44d68ad&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1)  by [Claire Howorth](https://time.com/author/claire-howorth/)  ## Claire Howorth Apr 13, 2017 10:57 AM UTC  Book jacket of Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann Book jacket of Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann  by [Claire Howorth](https://time.com/author/claire-howorth/)  ## Claire Howorth Apr 13, 2017 10:57 AM UTC Nearly 100 years ago, the Osage tribe of Oklahoma were thought to be the wealthiest people per capita in the world, thanks to their oil-rich reservation, kindly sold back to them by the federal government that had snatched it away. The hundreds of millions of dollars that spewed from those wells funded lavish mansions, chauffeured cars and couture wardrobes for the Osage. They’d have been richer still — perhaps not striving at a 20% poverty rate today — were it not for the parasitic Getty dynasty and others. Or for the fact that the Osage began to be systemically murdered, a crime [David Grann](http://time.com/4733987/lost-city-of-z-review/) examines in his unsurprisingly extraordinary new book, [_Killers of the Flower Moon_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1524755931/?tag=timecom-20). What at first seemed to be coincidental killings came to fit a pattern of conspiracy. As the body count ticked higher and the few white men trying to help the tribe became victims, the crisis catalyzed the formation of the [FBI](http://time.com/3742696/history-fbi-top-ten-list/). J. Edgar Hoover isn’t a hero here, though — he put enormous pressure on the fragile, politically explosive case, which he entrusted to a band of unorthodox but talented agents. Grann has an eye for cinematic tales and the film rights to _Flower Moon_ have already sold for an astronomical $5 million. But the end of _Flower Moon_ leaves the reader with a sense of injustice not truly avenged, and it’s no fault of the author — it’s American history. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4737945/killers-flower-moon-david-grann-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4737945/killers-flower-moon-david-grann-review/"},"headline":"David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon Is Unsurprisingly Extraordinary","datePublished":"2017-04-13T10:57:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:22:54.032Z","description":"A cinematic book about the murders of the Osage tribe and the formation of the FBI","url":"https://time.com/4737945/killers-flower-moon-david-grann-review/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt950b702260a5967b/6988c28d656a3f8125bcf86d/killer-of-the-flower-moon-david-grann.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Claire Howorth","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/claire-howorth/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt950b702260a5967b/6988c28d656a3f8125bcf86d/killer-of-the-flower-moon-david-grann.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"killer-of-the-flower-moon-david-grann","caption":"killer-of-the-flower-moon-david-grann","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4737945/killers-flower-moon-david-grann-review/","name":"David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon Is Unsurprisingly Extraordinary"}}]}] ```