Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann

 

Chronicle One
Osage Indians	White people
Mollie Burkhart Lizzie – mother, died Anna Brown – sister, killed in ravine Minnie – sister, died Rita – sister, died in house explosion   Mollie sent to boarding school at age 7 to learn “white men’s ways”   Mollie and Ernest’s children: Elizabeth, James “Cowboy”, and Anna   Henry Roan “Roan Horse” – shot, briefly married to Mollie in an arranged marriage   Charles Whitehorn – disappeared before Anna   James Bigheart – chief, held off allotment system   William Stepson – poisoned   Allotment System – each person given rights to a certain size plot of land and could sell surface rights.  The Osage kept the oil, gas and mineral rights under the land; could not buy or sell, only inherited	Ernest Burkhart – Mollie’s husband Bryan and Horace – brothers   Oda Brown – Anna’s ex husband   Bill Smith - Minnie’s husband, then Rita’s   Scott Mathis – owned Bill Hill Trading Co., financial guardian for Anna and Lizzie         William Hale – Ernest’s uncle, mastermind of many killings   William Burns – private detective   Barney McBride – white oilman, murdered   W. W. Vaughan – attorney, called by George Bigfoot, murdered Rose - wife   A.W. Comstock – lawyer, guardian for several Osage, part of conspiracy?
Chronicle Two: The Evidence Men
J. Edgar Hoover – Bureau of Investigations   Tom White – special agent, Bureau of Investigation in 1917, in command of field office in Oklahoma City 1925 J. C. “Doc” White – younger brother, former Texas Ranger, joined bureau Dudley White - brother   Emmett White – father, in charge of county jail in Austin, Texas, lived next door with the children   Others on team: John Burger Frank Smith John Wren – American Indian   Roy St. Lewis – U.S. Attorney John Leahy – local attorney
Chronicle Three – The Reporter 2012
David Grann   Kathryn Red Corn – Director, Osage Nation Museum, grandfather poisoned 1931   Margie Burkhart – granddaughter of Mollie and Ernest Andrew Low – husband, Creek Seminole   Martha Vaughan – granddaughter of W. W. Vaughan   H. G. Burt – bank president in 1923 Collected money Bigheart owed Vaughan, guardian of Bigheart’s daughter   Mary Lewis killed in 1918 – one of first

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Pages are from the paperback edition.

1.       Did you enjoy one section of the book more than the other two?  Why?

2.       Were you surprised that the Osage had white servants, such as Rita and Nettie Brookshire?

3.       In chapter 26, the author lists some of the number of Osage wards who died.  For example, one guardian had 11 wards and 8 of them died.   Why do you think no one ever became aware of this and investigated?

4.       According to the author’s research, the killings happened over a period of 13 years, from 1918 (Mary Lewis) through Red Corn’s grandfather in 1931.   How did this remain undetected?

5.       Tom White’s story was one of the main focuses of the second part of the book.  Why do you think the author decided to make his story such a large part of the book?

6.       In April 1931 Molly was declared to no longer be a ward of the state and was “restored to competency.”    She “could finally spend her money as she pleased, and was recognized as a full-fledged American citizen” (page 248).  Were you surprised to learn that it had taken so long?

7.       How have things changed that Native Americans now feel proud of their heritage?  Do you think this book and the movie based on it have helped?

8.       Would you recommend this book to a friend?  Why or why not?

Mad Honey, by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Characters
McAfee family	Campanello family
Olivia McAfee - zoologist Asher Fields – son Brandon Fields – husband, divorced, abusive   Parents – apiarists   Jordan – brother, defense attorney Selena – wife, investigator Sam – son   Dirk – Asher’s friend, co-captain of hockey team with Asher   Margot – Brandon’s second wife Shane and Shawn – sons	Lily – cutting, attempted suicide (previously Liam) Ava – mother, National Forest Service   Jonal and Sorel – boyfriend and friend at old school, planned attack   Dr.  Monica Powers – preformed Lily’s surgery
Maya Banjaree – friend of both Asher and Lily Deepa and Sharon – mothers   Lieutenant Mike Newcomb   Judge Rhonda Byers Assistant Attorney General Gina Jewett   Elizabeth (Edgar) – owner of music shop   Dr. Benjamin Oluwye – pathologist, clotting disorder

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from hardback edition.

1.       How did the beekeeping scenes add to the story?  Why do you think the authors chose that occupation for Asher’s mother?

2.       Lily had faked being happy for so long, she could not remember how to be sad.  Her therapist told her to fake being sad until she remembered how.  Do you think this was good advice?

3.       Discuss the importance of music and playing the cello was to Lily.  How did this add to her character?

4.       Both mothers kept secrets from their children.  Do you think Olivia should have told Asher about his father’s violent nature?  Was there anything Ava could have done to help Lily’s father accept her?

5.       When thinking about how people have acted toward her, Lily, in her chapter 5, thinks, “I think that what they hate is difference.  What they hate is that the world is complicated in ways they can’t understand” (page 218).  Do you think this is a good description?

6.       When Lily came to Adams High, she chose not to join the Rainbow Alliance at the school and instead, acted as if she was not transgender and dated Asher.  She wondered if it was “just internalized transphobia?  Is my love for him actually a weird way of hating myself?” (page 219).  Why do you think she did what she did?

7.       Did you like the writing style – jumping among characters and time lines, the numbered lists, the inclusion of information about beekeeping and forestry?

8.       What was the purpose of the list, “Five Things About the Bible” on page 211?

9.       Did you think Maya should have been arrested since, when she and Lily were fighting over the phone, she “shoved her away” (page 426)?

10.   The authors addressed many controversial subjects in this book such as racial prejudice, sexual orientation, self-cutting, suicide, abusive husbands, treatment of prisoners in jail, the legal system, abortion.   Was this too much? 

11.   Jodi Picoult often tackles difficult subjects in her books:

a.       My Sister’s Keeper – genetically engineered child to provide organs for first child

b.       Nineteen Minutes – school shooting

c.       The Pact – teen suicide

d.       Sing You Home – gay rights

How well did this book address this issue?  Why do you think she decided to work with a co-author on this book? 

12.   Did the book lead you to think about gender differently?   On page 392 there was a list of things we assign gender to such as hurricanes and ships.  On 392 and 393 the authors wrote “that even sound is gendered.”  Most of the brass instruments in an orchestra are played by boys; in the woodwind’s, bassoon and clarinets by boys but flutes by girls; with stringed instruments the deeper the tone the more likely the musician will be a boy. 

13.   Did her approach to transgenders give you any new insights?  How well did she and her co-author approach the issue?  Do you think the book will be banned in some schools?

Varina, by Charles Frazier

 

1906 – Saratoga Springs

James Blake “Jimmie Limber” Varina   First Days Among the Contrabands, a memoir by Elizabeth Hyde Botume (writes about James in book)

1842 – The Hurricane and Brierfield

Davis family:  Joseph – father Eliza – young wife Daughters – Florida (oldest), two others Benjamin Montgomery – slave, runs The Hurricane   Jefferson Davis – Joseph’s brother Pemberton – slave/companion Knoxie – first wife, daughter of Zacharay Taylor   Varina Winchester – tutor, lawyer – accompanied Varina to the Davis home, owned property and freed slaves   Betrothed and married to Jefferson Davis at age 18

1862 – Richmond

Davis became president of the Southern States, inauguration in Richmond Ellen Barnes – main cook, helped with children Mary O’Melia – head housekeeper

1865 – escaping to Florida

Varina Children: Samuel (died), Maggie, Jeffy (died age 21), Joe (fell off balcony and died), Jimmie Limber, Billy (died age 10), Winnie Ellen Barnes – Slave, companion, helped with children Delrey – driver   Mary Chestnut – Abbeville, friend of Varina Stayed with her for few days, never saw again   James Morgan, officer, and Burton Harris, Jefferson’s secretary – accompanying family   Ryland and Bristol – cadets, met family in Georgia and went with them   Wiggins Family – hog farm, shared food   Burned Plantation – Elgin, son of owner and slaves including Belle who raised him Elgin shot Ryland, Bristol shot Elgin

1865 - 1867

Children to Canada with Varina’s mother Jeff in prison, set free after two years Varina traveled with Burton Harrison

1877

Jeff in Biloxi, Mississippi with Sara Dorsey, writing memoir Varina in Europe, then at boarding house owned by Mary O’Melia Ellen married Varina recovered stolen painting my Whislet

Jefferson Davis died 1889 Varina died 1906

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from paperback edition.

1.       Were you surprised with all of the drug use (“medicine”) in the novel?  Do you think that was common in that time period?

2.       When Varina married Jeff, she discovered that Joseph had control over both houses and all of the money.   If something happened to Jefferson, Varina would have nothing.   She also had no say in the design of the new house being built for her family as well as taking in another poor family.   How does this and the previous question reflect the attitude toward women at that time?

3.       When Jeff was president and Varina was walking down the street, she got a lot of attention when people recognized her.  She thought, “Fame.  All it means is, people who don’t know one true thing about you get to have opinions and feel entitled to aim their screeds you way” (page 272).   Did this make you think of today’s celebrities any differently?

4.       Jefferson met up with Varina and the family in May 1865 as they were escaping to Florida and Cuba.   Varina kept telling him to go, but he stayed too long and he and the family were captured.  A former confederate officer, Basil Duke, thought that what Jefferson wanted “most, was justification, to defend himself in court and be hanged if he lost” (page 263).  Can you understand his reasoning?  Why would he put his family in danger?

5.       It was mentioned twice that Varina’s skin color was “a shade darker than everybody else” (page 326), this time when she was reminiscing with her classmate, Sara Dorsey.   Earlier in the book the author wrote, “V blushed, but one of the benefits of being brownish is that often nobody notices” (page 89).  Why do you think the author made a point of this?

6.       Should Varina have also been help responsible for her husband’s actions?   Was it unrealistic to think she would be treated any differently than she was when they were fleeing in 1865?  When she and her family were passing through Charlotte the people “shouted curses largely aimed at her husband, but since he wasn’t present to absorb them, she would have to do” (page 60).

7.       When Varina was in London, the author wrote, “Being on the wrong side of history carries consequences.  V lived that truth every day…Even if your sin…had been simply to live in the wrong place, you suffered” (page 38).  Do you agree?  Is this fair and can it be changed in people’s perception?

8.       Did this novel give you any different insights into slavery?  Were you surprised at the relationships between the owners and slaves?  For example, when Varina told James she went to Ellen’s wedding, he replied, “Even years after the war, you thought of Ellen simply as your friend?” (page 312).  Also, Jeff and Joseph sold the plantation to Benjamin Montgomery, Joseph’s slave.

9.       Why did the author refer to Varina as “V” throughout the book?

10.   Did you like the organization of the book and how the author kept jumping around in time?  How long did it take you to figure out that the symbol of the two parallel lines indicated moving to James and Varina in 1906?