"Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann (2017)

This book tells the story of one of the most notorious cases of the 20th century. Unfortunately it was buried by the egotism of J. Edgar Hoover who hogged the limelight and deprived the true story of Texas Ranger Tom White, who, first as a Texas Ranger, and then as an Agent of what was shortly to become the FBI, led an almost 5 year investigation into the multiple murders of several dozen Osage Indians in Oklahoma during the 1920's.

Oil had been discovered on the Osage Reservation, making millionaires of the the tribe's members. But it didn't take long for the white man to devise a way of scamming them of at least part of their wealth.

By reasoning that Indians didn't understand money, or how to handle it, they concocted laws which made it mandatory for each Indian to have a white trustee. Soon white men and women descended upon the Reservation and started marrying the Osage. After that the Judges began to award trusteeships to whites in exchange for securing their votes at election time.

Suddenly, in 1921,  there were murders, poisonings and all manners of schemes afoot to gain hold of the "headrights" to the Osage parcels of land. Each parcel was 160 acres and oil companies came to bid under what became known as the "Million Dollar Elm" for leases to these "headrights".

The book begins in May 1921, with the disappearance of an Osage woman named Mollie Burkhart. When found she had been shot in the head and dumped in a ravine. Local authorities couldn't/wouldn't solve the case. Soon more deaths followed, all with the same lack of prosecution.  It seemed that no white jury would convict a white man of murdering an Indian.

When the investigation was finally handed over to the Texas Rangers things looked as if there would be convictions. But, due to the influence of one man, William Hale, nothing changed at all. Hale controlled everything that happened; on and off the Reservation.

This is also the story of the time when the Bureau of Investigation was under the leadership of William Burns. He was just as bad as the State when it came to results. But by 1925 the Bureau became the FBI and J.Edgar Hoover took over. At the same time Texas Ranger Tom White became an FBI agent and Hoover assigned him to the case.

For another 3 years there were investigations and trials, and even more murders. But no convictions. Finally, through Jurisdictional wrangling, the case wound up in Federal Court. State verdicts were overturned as witnesses recanted and juries were proven to have been bribed.

Too complicated for a simple review, take my advice and read this book before the movie is released. Martin Scorsese is directing the film version which will be starring Robert DeNiro and Leonardo DiCaprio as the two leaders of the criminals responsible for the murders. Some of these murders even involved their own family members.

In the 1930's Lucky Strike tried a radio show based on the case but struck out. Later on,  Agent and former Texas Ranger Tom White tried his hand at a book which became a fictional screenplay. Again, it didn't make it. By that time the FBI had moved on and J. Edgar Hoover became a national hero due to the John Dillinger case and the birth of the "G-Man." Unwilling to share the truth of this shameful story of exploitation, and dilute his own place in the spotlight, there was no way he was going to share any glory with the real hero of the earlier case, former Texas Ranger Tom White.

The book is all encompassing, covering the history of the Osage, the discovery of oil and the history of the oil barons it created. No movie will ever be able to fully tell the story as well as David Gram does in the book. He lived with it and researched it for 6 years before it was released in 2017. I'll say it again; read the book first. It will enrich you. 

Wanda Jackson - Hard Headed Woman (1957)

I love “discovering” new artists from 50 years ago. What’s not to like? They are playing the type of music which I enjoy; or can relate to; but which I have never heard before. Sometimes I have a brief familiarity with the name, or maybe one particular song; but this time I have made a true “discovery.” Her name is Wanda Jackson; though you all probably know that. Remember; I may have said I discovered her, but I didn't say that I was the first.

Wanda Jackson had a growl to her voice before it was considered “ladylike”. Maybe some of the blues greats; such as Bessie Smith, Willie Mae Thornton, and even Memphis Minnie, had already growled, but nice girls; and nice white girls in particular; did not growl at all. (Peggy Lee was one of the few exceptions to this.)

Wanda Jackson came by her growling sound at the behest of her father.  That’s the truth. One day she was singing but “holding back” when her Dad told her to just let it all out. So she did, and that was the birth of her sound.

And the way she walked and entranced the miners and factory workers wherever she played; sauntering on stage in everything from a simple dress to a full evening gown; or even slacks; she didn’t hide her figure, she used it.

The video above is from an early TV appearance and she sings; what for her is; a sort of ballad. But in the second video shown here she appears on Town Hall Party in 1957 singing a rockabilly version of Hard Headed Woman, which became kind of a signature song for her to perform; showing off her vocals and her figure.

With her short skirts, hoop earrings and shoes; all designed by her mother; she was one of the first female country stars to bring sex appeal and a sense of fashion to the country music scene. And did I mention that she could sing, too?

"The Dust Bowl" by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns (2012)

When we think of the Dust Bowl it is generally thought of in the narrow terms of the classic “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck. And, of course, the iconic movie of the same name starring Henry Fonda comes to mind as well. We think in terms of Oklahoma as the only state to have endured the disaster of the Dust Bowl, when in truth the events described by Steinbeck; and shown in the movie; were really happening in a small area of Oklahoma, in the Panhandle region, which straddles the borders of 4 other states; including Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Kansas.

In Ken Burn’s PBS documentary “The Dust Bowl”, this commonly accepted myth is shattered. Drawing upon the photographs and memories of those who endured the Dust Bowl, authors Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns have painted a new, and more accurate portrait of the Dust Bowl and how it came to be in the first place.

In one sense the Dust Bowl was natural disaster, caused by a severe 10 year drought. But, in other respects, the effects of that drought would not have been so severe if the farmers had not been able to cultivate such a large area of land, resulting in no natural barriers being left in place to counter the fierce prairie winds, and the resultant dust storms.

The authors also devote a great amount of time in reviewing some of the Federal Programs which were put in place in order to save the farmers from going broke. Many of these programs were very controversial at the time, particularly the Resettlement Program in which the government bought the land from the farmers, allowing them a chance to resettle elsewhere. Thousands of farmers were spared a life of poverty and malnutrition by this program. The land was taken out of production and re-seeded as grasslands, the thinking being that this would help not only the people affected, but also possibly slow down the dust storms. Programs like these, though not always entirely successful, are what helped to keep 75% of the population from leaving the affected areas. That’s right; only 25% left as shown in “The Grapes of Wrath.” Most people, for a variety of reasons, elected to stay on their land if they could.

Books like this, and documentaries like Ken Burn’s makes, are what should keep us ahead of the curve when it comes to disasters, both natural and man-made. They comprise not only a veritable blueprint of what went wrong, but also a valuable insight into what it takes to make things right again. In times like these, there is much to be learned from the past.