“[A] riveting legal thriller . . . superb historical sleuthing . . . It’s an astonishing exposé.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“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.”
—Shelf Awarness, Starred Review
“The great-grandson of an Oklahoma oilman interrogates a legal conundrum that lays bare the corruption beneath the creation of his home state.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“This powerful work is equal parts history and true crime. The result is a historical record illuminating a failure of law and policy.”
—Booklist
“Russell Cobb is a master storyteller. . . . Ghosts of Crook County is his best yet.”
—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, American Book Award–winning author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
“Russell Cobb has delivered a bombshell of a book. Ghosts of Crook County isn’t just a deeply researched, gripping historical detective story. It is also a compelling meditation on wealth and power.”
—Scott Ellsworth, author of The Ground Breaking: The Tulsa Race Massacre and an American City’s Search for Justice
“If you’ve read Killers of the Flower Moon and were enraged but engrossed in the story, Ghosts of Crook County is also the book for you—and you’ll likely enjoy it more!”
—Kyle T. Mays (Saginaw Chippewa), author of An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States
“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.”
—Darren Dochuk, author of Anointed with Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America
“Like some bastard son of Angie Debo and David Grann, in Ghosts of Crook County Russell Cobb blends the archival acuity of the former with the reliable readability of the latter.”
—Jeff Martin, owner, Magic City Books
“A suspenseful story of corruption, power, and malice that you will never forget!”
—Donald L. Fixico (Muscogee, Seminole, Shawnee, and Sac and Fox), author of The State of Sequoyah: Indigenous Sovereignty and the Quest for an Indian State