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Messages - Vic

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Feb 2019 - Biography / Born A Crime by Trevor Noah
« on: February 22, 2019, 06:09:30 pm »
Y'all probably already know this, but Trevor Noah is a super intelligent and funny guy and you should definitely read his biography. He was born in South Africa under apartheid, when it was actually illegal for his parents to ever have been together because they were of different races, and therefore it was a crime for them to have brought Trevor into the world. Trevor turns what could be a depressing story of a young boy who had to be kept secret from the world for several years, whose own parents had to deny him in public, and who never really fit in anywhere into a humorous account of a regular kid growing up in this crazy world and sometimes pooping on the kitchen floor and expelling demons. He has a real knack for making people laugh at what could make us cry and vice versa and his sharp and witty storytelling makes this such an easy read. This book made me feel all the feelings in the best possible way and I would recommend it for anybody interested in seeing the world and the people in it from a fresh perspective.

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Jan 2019 - Any / Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
« on: February 22, 2019, 05:09:03 pm »
For January, I decided to read Killers of the Flower Moon, The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. This book was absolutely mind-blowing! It's the true account of what takes place in the 1920's when several members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma start mysteriously dying at an alarming rate. The strange twist is that the Osage also happen to be the richest people in the country at the time. You see, after being forced away from their home the Osage had decided to purchase land in Oklahoma in the 1870's. This land was chosen because it was such an undesirable place to live, Chief Wah-Ti-An-Kah is quoted as saying "My people will be happy in this land....White man will not come to this land." What was unknown at the time, was that the land was basically a massive oil field just waiting to be discovered and exploited. Cut to the 1920's and the Osage are incredibly wealthy, but have a shocking mortality rate. What is more, those who try to investigate the strange and seemingly inexplicable deaths also keep dying under mysterious circumstances. Like really, really mysterious circumstances. I highly recommend this book, as it is an insightful look at government, law enforcement, and human nature at its most ugly and most beautiful. And the story itself, like so many stories of the marginalization and murder of indigenous peoples is hardly known and deserves to be heard. On a lighter note, you also get to read about prohibition era "scalawags" and "rumrunners" and the very humble beginnings of the FBI, so please don't ignore this book just because it sounds too serious. The only thing I would warn about is that David Grann is more of a researcher than an author, so the prose is not exceptionally inviting. However, the account itself will keep you so enthralled that you will have to keep reading, even if it kinda feels like you are straight up reading a research paper, haha.

P.s. Im sure Justen would really appreciate if I had someone else to talk to about this book, so you should probably do him a favor and read it.

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