{"product_id":"ghosts-of-crook-county-isbn-9780807021392","title":"Ghosts of Crook County","description":"\u003cb\u003eDAVID J. WEBER BOOK PRIZE FINALIST: The true—and unsolved—story of unabashedly greedy men, their exploitation of Muscogee land, and the hunt for the ghost of a boy who may never have existed \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e For readers of David Grann’s award-winning \u003ci\u003eKillers of the Flower Moon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the early 1900s, at the dawn of the “American Century,” few knew the intoxicating power of greed better than white men on the forefront of the black gold rush. When oil was discovered in Oklahoma, these counterfeit tycoons impersonated, defrauded, and murdered Native property owners to snatch up hundreds of acres of oil-rich land.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWriter and fourth-generation Oklahoman Russell Cobb sets the stage for one such oilman’s chicanery: Tulsa entrepreneur Charles Page’s campaign for a young Muscogee boy’s land in Creek County. Problem was, “Tommy Atkins,” the boy in question, had died years prior—if he ever lived at all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eGhosts of Crook County\u003c\/i\u003e traces Tommy’s mythologized life through Page’s relentless pursuit of his land. We meet Minnie Atkins and the two other women who claimed to be Tommy’s “real” mother. Minnie would testify a story of her son’s life and death that fulfilled the legal requirements for his land to be transferred to Page. And we meet Tommy himself—or the men who proclaimed themselves to be him, alive and well in court.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThrough evocative storytelling, Cobb chronicles with unflinching precision the lasting effects of land-grabbing white men on Indigenous peoples. What emerges are the interconnected stories of unabashedly greedy men, the exploitation of Indigenous land, and the legacy of a boy who may never have existed.“[A] riveting legal thriller . . . superb historical sleuthing . . . It’s an astonishing exposé.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, Starred Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“True-crime and social science readers will find this tangled tale fascinating . . . This well-researched and vividly told account of Oklahoma’s oil boom highlights the corruption, opportunism, and racism that birthed the modern oil and gas industry.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eShelf Awarness\u003c\/i\u003e, Starred Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The great-grandson of an Oklahoma oilman interrogates a legal conundrum that lays bare the corruption beneath the creation of his home state.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This powerful work is equal parts history and true crime. The result is a historical record illuminating a failure of law and policy.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Russell Cobb is a master storyteller. . . . \u003ci\u003eGhosts of Crook County\u003c\/i\u003e is his best yet.”\u003cbr\u003e—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, American Book Award–winning author of \u003ci\u003eAn Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Russell Cobb has delivered a bombshell of a book. \u003ci\u003eGhosts of Crook County\u003c\/i\u003e isn’t just a deeply researched, gripping historical detective story. It is also a compelling meditation on wealth and power.”\u003cbr\u003e—Scott Ellsworth, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Ground Breaking: The Tulsa Race Massacre and an American City’s Search for Justice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“If you’ve read \u003ci\u003eKillers of the Flower Moon\u003c\/i\u003e and were enraged but engrossed in the story, \u003ci\u003eGhosts of Crook County\u003c\/i\u003e is also the book for you—and you’ll likely enjoy it more!”\u003cbr\u003e—Kyle T. Mays (Saginaw Chippewa), author of \u003ci\u003eAn Afro-Indigenous History of the United States\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An enthralling must-read story of Oklahoma oil . . . This is a masterful book that reveals Oklahoma’s past (hidden) encounters with crude with an eye to its enduring potential for violence and injustice today.”\u003cbr\u003e—Darren Dochuk, author of \u003ci\u003eAnointed with Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Like some bastard son of Angie Debo and David Grann, in \u003ci\u003eGhosts of Crook County\u003c\/i\u003e Russell Cobb blends the archival acuity of the former with the reliable readability of the latter.”\u003cbr\u003e—Jeff Martin, owner, Magic City Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A suspenseful story of corruption, power, and malice that you will never forget!”\u003cbr\u003e—Donald L. Fixico (Muscogee, Seminole, Shawnee, and Sac and Fox), author of \u003ci\u003eThe State of Sequoyah: Indigenous Sovereignty and the Quest for an Indian State\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eRussell Cobb\u003c\/b\u003e, a fourth-generation white Oklahoman, is professor in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta and the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Great Oklahoma Swindle\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the 2021 Director's Award in the Oklahoma Book Awards. His journalism has appeared in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSlate\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/i\u003e, and on NPR. His reporting appearing on \u003ci\u003eThis American Life\u003c\/i\u003e was turned into the film \u003ci\u003eCome Sunday,\u003c\/i\u003e distributed by Netflix\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e He is also the host of \u003ci\u003eHistory X\u003c\/i\u003e, a podcast about buried histories and nonfiction mysteries, broadcast on 88.5FM in Edmonton, Canada, and across all major podcast platforms.","brand":"Beacon Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233192161509,"sku":"NP9780807021392","price":21.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780807021392.jpg?v=1767728085","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/ghosts-of-crook-county-isbn-9780807021392","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}