A Pipe for February: A Novel (Volume 44) (American Indian Literature and Critical Studies Series)

“A Pipe for February is an extraordinary novel: evocative, riveting, moving. Charles Red Corn illuminates what the Osage people went through during the 1920s, when oil profits had made them fabulously wealthy and when they began to die under mysterious circumstances—systematically targeted for their money. This novel, exquisitely written and filled with revelations, will hold you in its grip and never let you go.”—David Grann, author of New York Times Best Seller Killers of the Flower Moon At the turn of the twentieth century, the Osage Indians owned Oklahoma's most valuable oil reserves and became members of the world's first wealthy oil population. Osage children and grandchildren continued to respect the old customs and ways, but now they also had lives of leisure: purchasing large homes, expensive cars, eating in fancy restaurants, and traveling to faraway places. In the 1920s, they also found themselves immersed in a series of murders. Charles H. Red Corn sets A Pipe for February against this turbulent, exhilarating background. Tracing the experiences of John Grayeagle, the story's main character, Red Corn describes the Osage murders from the perspective of a traditional Osage. Other books on the notorious crimes have focused on the greed of government officials and businessmen to increase their oil wealth. Red Corn focuses on the character of the Osage people, drawing on his own experiences and insights as a member of the Osage Nation. In the new foreword, director Martin Scorsese reveals how reading A Pipe for February helped him better understand the Osage people and bring Killers of the Flower Moon to the screen. "Tracing the experiences of John Grayeagle, a young Osage who is the story's main character, Red Corn describes the Osage experience of the 1920s from the perspective of a traditional Osage. Recent books about that period focus on the greed of government officials and businessmen who murdered Osages to increase their personal wealth. Drawing on his own experiences as an Osage, Red Corn focuses on the character and culture of the Osage people in dealing not only with theft and murder for profit but with the challenges of a wealthy tribal people adjusting to the lure of the Roaring Twenties."--BOOK JACKET. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Osage Indians were traditional tribal people who owned Oklahoma's most valuable oil reserves. During the 1920s, they became members of the wealthy oil population. Tracing the experiences of John Grayeagle, a young Osage, Charles Red Corn, describes the Osage experience of the 1920s