Undoubtedly one of the biggest big screen releases of 2023, Martin Scorsese's forthcoming adaptation of David Grann's Killers of the Flower Moon has been met with no shortage of positive critical reception since screenings began at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. The film, like the book it's based on, examines a series of murders that targeted wealthy members of the Osage nation in Osage County, Oklahoma, during the early 1920s. The killings, which coincided with the discovery of priceless oil deposits beneath Osage land, were investigated by the BOI (the precursor to the FBI) and discovered to be part of a massive criminal plot driven by greed.
You can catch Killers of the Flower Moon in theaters beginning October 20, 2023, followed by an as-yet unannounced streaming debut on AppleTV+. Until then, there's no shortage of in-depth reporting on hidden history, crime, violence, and widespread systemic injustice that will likely resonate with any fans of the 2017 nonfiction triumph. These stories, whether centered directly on issues facing Indigenous peoples or assessing the intersection of time, community, policing, and crime, are standouts in narrative structure, investigative prowess, and contemplative approach.
If you enjoy David Grann's expertise in crafting enthralling, thorough examinations of a crime through the scope of wider societal implications, you'll want to listen in to his latest. A relentless tale of a shipwreck, survival, treachery, and the darker depths of human nature, The Wager is a triumph of narrative nonfic. When a crew of marooned sailors thought lost after a shipwreck build a slipshod craft and sail to shore, they receive a hero's welcome. But six months later, three other survivors emerged from the sea, claiming their crewmates were far from innocent. As engrossing as the rest of Grann's bibliography, this gripping audiobook is heightened by the commanding performance of audio veteran Dion Graham.
Like Killers of the Flower Moon, this Pulitzer Prize finalist is a complex, nuanced look at the intersection of violence and oil on Indigenous land. In Yellow Bird, journalist Sierra Crane Murdoch follows Lissa Yellow Bird, an Arikara woman living in North Dakota, as she becomes unexpectedly consumed by a missing persons case while reacclimatizing to life on the Reservation after incarceration. Her home has been entirely upended in her absence, driven by the Bakken oil boom and all the environmental and corporate impacts brought with it. When an oil worker disappears, Lissa becomes determined to uncover his fate at any cost, navigating the nearly unrecognizable landscape, a community touched by greed and colonialism, while reckoning with her own past.
When it comes to contemplative masterworks of the true crime genre, the bar is very much set by Truman Capote's exquisite In Cold Blood. Though it listens like a novel, this audiobook is far from fiction, recounting a murder that shook the small town of Holcomb, Kansas. In mid-November 1959, the quiet rural homestead of the Clutter family was shattered by shotgun fire—all four residents, Herb and Mary Clutter and two of their children, had been murdered. With no motive and no leads, the investigation that followed sought to uncover who could've committed such a violent act—and why. Much like Killers of the Flower Moon, what makes this listen truly unforgettable is its cast of characters, deeply human figures who are portrayed in all their complexity.
It is impossible to separate a long history of systemic oppression from a contemporary miscarriage of justice, evidenced further by the haunting Audible Original podcast, Invisible: Life and Death on the Reservation. This listen traces the story of Jade Wagon, a Northern Arapaho woman who vanished in January 2020. Her disappearance barely made the local news. And Jade's case is far from unique—for decades, Native American women across the United States and Canada have been going missing, their cases unworked and names unknown. Jade's mother, Nicole, was left to fight for visibility and justice, fueled by the loss of two daughters in the span of one year. This is her story, one reflected by countless others who have dedicated their lives and careers to amplifying the voices of Indigenous women.
As its subtitle suggests, Killers of the Flower Moon covers not only the Osage murders but also the investigation led by the fledgling Federal Bureau of Investigation, then known as the BOI (Bureau of Investigation). J Edgar Hoover, who served as the bureau's director from the early 1920s to 1972, was a central figure in that case and many others, from notorious mafia rings to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. But his legacy is far from untarnished. In this sweeping, scrupulous, and balanced study, Yale professor Beverly Gage weighs everything, from Hoover's promising start to patterns of virulent bigotry and hyper-conservatism to his wield of unsavory methodology and abuses of power. A winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize, G-Man paints a bare portrait of a controversial figure that's as thoughtful as it is riveting.
Though numerous writers and journalists have tackled Indigenous exploitation and injustice, the work of Native storytellers covering the issues prevalent in their own communities is an authentic part of the conversation that deserves to be amplified. One such contribution is this podcast from creators Crystal Echo Hawk of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma and Lashay Wesley of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Presented by Illuminative, a woman-led social justice organization dedicated to centering Native voices, American Genocide dives deep into the grim history of the Red Cloud Indian School, a Catholic-led institution of learning on the Pine Ridge Reservation that many point to as a source of trauma. Throughout their on-the-ground investigation, the hosts cover generations of oft-painful history and look towards the possibility of reckoning and healing.
Listeners who were particularly fond of Killers of the Flower Moon's narrative approach to history and true crime will find a similar skill for storytelling in Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City. This haunting work weaves the tale of a historical landmark—the construction of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair—with a sinister milestone—the rise of the sadistic H.H. Holmes, believed to be America's first recorded serial killer. Performed to perfection by prolific and acclaimed narrator Scott Brick, this is a saga of crime history rendered utterly unforgettable.
Patrick Radden Keefe's brilliant Say Nothing is, much like Killers of the Flower Moon, a true crime epic that zooms in on a violent crime and its impact on the local community while also offering a macro view of culture and society. Amidst the raging, brutal conflicts of The Troubles and acts of terrorism, resistance, and insurrection that dominated much of Ireland throughout the late 1900s, Jean McConville, a mother of 10, was dragged out of her home in Northern Ireland. In 2003, three decades after her abduction, McConville's remains washed to shore. Interweaving the story of McConville and other such "Disappeared" with the growing tensions between the Irish Republican Army and the British, the author crafts a stunning portrait of a single life ended and a nation teetering on the brink.
Like American Genocide, journalist Tanya Talaga's Seven Fallen Feathers zeroes in on the complicated history of residential schooling and its impact on Indigenous peoples. This audiobook, however, focuses not on the United States' unsettling relations with Native populations but on similar instances of injustice and abuse perpetrated by the Canadian government. Talaga, herself of Anishinaabe, recounts the tragic deaths of seven Indigenous children and teenagers in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Standing in the full context of history, colonialism, racism, and apathy, the author relays a story that demands telling and suggests a hard look at our collective past is long overdue.
For another look at how factors of identity and community can directly affect criminal investigations, listen in to Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso. Reconstructing a narrative from detectives' notes, trial and prison records, and reporting from the era, historian Kali Nicole Gross recalls a gruesome crime committed in Philadelphia in 1877 and an investigation complicated by race, sex, and social taboos. In the process, she crafts a complex portrait of a trial and all the scandals it unearthed alongside systemic issues of violence and discrimination.
