The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson

The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson was this month's book club pick. I enjoyed reading this book and found it interesting.  

I am not into fishing or fly tying, and although it is about the theft of rare feathers from a museum to be used in salmon fly tying, that's not the whole point of the book. What is fascinating is the obsessive aspect of fly tying and its roots in a crazy but popular 19th c writer who insisted that rare and beautiful birds needed to be harvested to create perfect flys to attract specific fish in specific streams.

The book also talks about the obsession for birds and feathers in 19th c fashion and how millions of birds were killed for the sake of their feathers.

This book is about obsession and the crazy things we become obsessed with. The obsession of a 19th c naturalist to collect rare birds. The obsession of a man who stole the rare birds from a museum, justifying his action. The obsession of the author who needed to understand the thief and to find what happened to all the birds.

And, there is the obsession of us readers who want to know how the story ends.

Most of our book club readers did not finish the book or were disappointed by the ending. Some parts interested others. One was emotionally upset by the killing of birds. It was the lack of an ending that gave closure that most disappointed the readers. Even if the 'mystery' was not solved, the 'truth' revealed, they wanted the author to offer something to wrap the story up. Two of us did enjoy the book.

I purchased an ebook.

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

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

David Grann's masterful account of the Osage Murders is one of the most horrifying histories I have read. Uncovering layer after layer of murders, Grann exposes an entire society in which (supposed) upstanding pillars of society committed horrendous crimes then orchestrated a massive cover-up. 

The Osage had been savvy enough to reserve the mineral rights to the land they bought and became rich leasing the rights to oil companies. White society did everything to limit the natives' access to their own money, requiring them to find trustees to handle their affairs. When the Osage began to die--of poison, guns, and bombs--their money landed in the hands of white trustees and spouses.

What kind of person raises children with a spouse and then participates in their murder---for money? One would think only a rare sociopath, but Grann discovers a whole was society complicit.

I commend Grann for his amazing research and his determination to find the truth and for his sensitivity and compassion toward the Osage and their heirs.

I received a book from my Goodreads friend Allen. Thank you!

“[C]lose to impeccable. It’s confident, fluid in its dynamics, light on its feet…. The crime story it tells is appalling, and stocked with authentic heroes and villains. It will make you cringe at man’s inhumanity to man.” 
—The New York Times

from the publisher:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER   –  NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST 
A New York Times Notable Book

Named a best book of the year by Amazon, Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, GQ, Time, Newsday, Entertainment Weekly, Time Magazine, NPR, Vogue, Smithsonian, Cosmopolitan, Seattle Times, Bloomberg, Lit Hub, and Slate

From the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Lost City of Z, a twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. One of her relatives was shot. Another was poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. 

As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent who infiltrated the region, and together with the Osage began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy: Crime, Conspiracy, and Cover Up

The spring of my sophomore year of high school found me falling into a depression that lasted several months. Personal and family problems were behind most of it, with national events weighing down with extra pressure as we saw the deaths of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.

1968 was such a bad year, I avoided thinking about it for decades; I have tried to understand it for decades more.

In those days, my dad would wake me up before he left for work at Chrysler in Highland Park, MI. I turned on my radio while dressing for school. That June 5 I learned that Robert F. Kennedy had been shot. It caught me unawares, a gut-punch that left me breathless.

I had a two-mile walk to high school. Then I ran to my friend's locker to find her devastated. Her parents didn't understand her grief, she said. I wrote in my diary that I silently prayed, "Don't let him die."

Looking back, it seems that with RFK's death the dream of a just society died, too.

(Alright, I have read biographies and I know that Bobby was no one's idea of perfection. But he did have an awakening and envisioned a better America for everyone.)

We watched the news. We saw how Sirhan Sirhan stood in front of Bobby and shot him and knew that Bobby died. Sirhan went to prison.

End of story.

Apparently, this story's end was manipulated for easy answers and for fifty years people have been searching for answers that better fit the evidence. Beginning with the fact that Sirhan was in front of RFK by several feet but RFK died from a bullet that struck him in the back of the head.

Oh, and it seems that Sirhan's gun held eight bullets but thirteen may have been fired.

Investigative journalists Tim Tate and Brad Johnson's book The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy presents an entire history of investigations into Bobby's death, drawing on 100,000 official documents and 25 years of forensic work.

I am not easily drawn to conspiracy theories. All kinds have been made over the years. Was Sirhan hypnotized? Did the government brainwash him? Were a girl in a polka dot dress and a man in a gold sweater involved? Did the police destroy evidence to hide something? Where witnesses harassed or ignored? It is all very interesting but I am not placing bets on any of them.

What seems possible is that the LAPD had decided that Sirhan had the gun and they ignored evidence and testimony and gaps that did not fit into their story.

Reading Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson and The Shine Will Shine by Ray Hinton and I Can't Breathe by Matt Taibbi proves that the police do make decisions and manipulate evidence to be consistent with what they believe. It is very possible the LAPD did that fifty years ago.

Paul Schrade was behind Kennedy and was also shot. He believes there was a second gunman. He went to Sirhan and told him he believed he was innocent. "You were never behind Bob, nor was Bob's back ever exposed to you," Schrade told Sirhan.

We will never know the truth of Bobby's murder. It is one more 'unsolved mystery' for us to ponder. What is the point? my husband asked; Bobby is still dead.

It was interesting to learn about fifty years of investigation regarding Bobby's death. My interest did not lag.

The Daily Mail is serializing the book.
View the trailer for the book at https://vimeo.com/272208961?ref=tw-share

I received a free ebook from the Thistle Publishing in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.