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Mean Spirit
Early in this century, rivers of oil were found beneath Oklahoma land belonging to Indian people, and beautiful Grace Blanket became the richest person in the Territory. But she was murdered by the greed of white men, and the Graycloud family, who cared for her daughter, began dying mysteriously. Letters sent to Washington, D.C. begging for help went unanswered, until at last a Native American government official, Stace Red Hawk, traveled west to investigate. What he found has been documented by history: rampant fraud, intimidation, and murder. But he also found something truly extraordinary--his deepest self and abiding love for his people, and their brave past.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
119 people are currently reading
5998 people want to read
About the author
Linda Hogan
79 books550 followersLinda K. Hogan (born 1947 Denver) is a Native American poet, storyteller, academic, playwright, novelist, environmentalist and writer of short stories. She is currently the Chickasaw Nation's Writer in Residence.
Linda Hogan is Chickasaw. Her father is a Chickasaw from a recognized historical family and Linda's uncle, Wesley Henderson, helped form the White Buffalo Council in Denver during the 1950s. It was to help other Indian people coming to the city because of The Relocation Act, which encouraged migration for work and other opportunities. He had a strong influence on her and she grew up relating strongly to both her Chickasaw family in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and to a mixed Indian community in the Denver area. At other times, her family traveled because of the military.
Her first university teaching position was in American Indian Studies and American Studies at the University of Minnesota. After writing her first book, Calling Myself Home, she continued to write poetry. Her work has both a historical and political focus, but is lyrical. Her most recent books are The Book of Medicines (1993) and Rounding the Human Corners. (2008) She is also a novelist and essayist. Her work centers on the world of Native peoples, from both her own indigenous perspective and that of others. She was a full professor of Creative Writing at the University of Colorado and then taught the last two years in the University's Ethnic Studies Department. She currently is the Writer in Residence for her own Chickasaw Nation.
Essayist, novelist, and poet, Hogan has published works in many different backgrounds and forms. Her concentration is on environmental themes. She has acted as a consultant in bringing together Native tribal representatives and feminist themes, particularly allying them to her Native ancestry. Her work, whether fiction or non-fiction, expresses an indigenous understanding of the world.
She has written essays and poems on a variety of subjects, both fictional and nonfictional, biographical and from research. Hogan has also written historical novels. Her work studies the historical wrongs done to Native Americans and the American environment since the European colonization of North America.
Hogan was a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Oklahoma. She is the (inaugural) Writer-in-Residence for the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma. In October 2011, she instructed a writing workshop through the Abiquiu Workshops in Abiquiu, New Mexico.
(from Wikipedia)
Linda Hogan is Chickasaw. Her father is a Chickasaw from a recognized historical family and Linda's uncle, Wesley Henderson, helped form the White Buffalo Council in Denver during the 1950s. It was to help other Indian people coming to the city because of The Relocation Act, which encouraged migration for work and other opportunities. He had a strong influence on her and she grew up relating strongly to both her Chickasaw family in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and to a mixed Indian community in the Denver area. At other times, her family traveled because of the military.
Her first university teaching position was in American Indian Studies and American Studies at the University of Minnesota. After writing her first book, Calling Myself Home, she continued to write poetry. Her work has both a historical and political focus, but is lyrical. Her most recent books are The Book of Medicines (1993) and Rounding the Human Corners. (2008) She is also a novelist and essayist. Her work centers on the world of Native peoples, from both her own indigenous perspective and that of others. She was a full professor of Creative Writing at the University of Colorado and then taught the last two years in the University's Ethnic Studies Department. She currently is the Writer in Residence for her own Chickasaw Nation.
Essayist, novelist, and poet, Hogan has published works in many different backgrounds and forms. Her concentration is on environmental themes. She has acted as a consultant in bringing together Native tribal representatives and feminist themes, particularly allying them to her Native ancestry. Her work, whether fiction or non-fiction, expresses an indigenous understanding of the world.
She has written essays and poems on a variety of subjects, both fictional and nonfictional, biographical and from research. Hogan has also written historical novels. Her work studies the historical wrongs done to Native Americans and the American environment since the European colonization of North America.
Hogan was a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Oklahoma. She is the (inaugural) Writer-in-Residence for the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma. In October 2011, she instructed a writing workshop through the Abiquiu Workshops in Abiquiu, New Mexico.
(from Wikipedia)
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May 12, 2021
Mean Spirit was the debut historical fiction novel by poet and essayist Linda Hogan. Because of her literary background the prose as combined with Native American beliefs and magical realism was hauntingly beautiful throughout the book. The main storyline is focused on Belle, the beekeeping matriarch of the Graycloud family and her ranching husband, Moses, their children and grandchildren, as well as the Blanket family where oil has been discovered on their land in Watona, Oklahoma. Another key figure is the master storyteller, a writer and a diviner, Michael Horse, who also keeps the fire of his people burning for posterity. There are many diverse characters, including the quieter ways of the Hill Indians, appearing throughout the novel to advance the plot as well as many narrators with different points of view.
Having previously read the non-fiction account Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, it detailed the plight of the Osage people as they were driven from their homeland in Kansas in the late 1800s to the new territory of Oklahoma by the early twentieth century, west of the Mississippi River in Indian Territory. But this riveting book, Mean Spirit, embraced the heart and soul of what happened to the Osage people in Oklahoma when it was discovered that their allotments of land were rich in oil and they began dying oftentimes under suspicious circumstances in the 1920s. Stace Red Hawk was a Lakota Sioux Indian based in Washington, D.C. and working for the FBI, when he became aware of the suspicious deaths of the Native-Americans with oil-rich property subsequently coming to Oklahoma to investigate further.
The book cover describes this lovely book in this way:
On a personal note, I have to say that I loved this book. I first saw Linda Hogan, a Chickasaw poet, novelist and essayist, at The Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver in 1990 when she so graciously autographed my book. While I was enthralled with her message and returned to that same bookstore to listen to her speak, I have no explanation as to why I am now just getting into her beautiful work but I have a few more of her lovely books to work my way through, of course all thoughtfully inscribed and autographed.
"Moses could hear the Indian preacher speak, 'And when the spirit touches us, there won't be any more danger here on earth,' said the evangelist. 'No mean spirits walking in this land, no smallness in people, no heartaches, no sorrow, nor any pain.'"
Having previously read the non-fiction account Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, it detailed the plight of the Osage people as they were driven from their homeland in Kansas in the late 1800s to the new territory of Oklahoma by the early twentieth century, west of the Mississippi River in Indian Territory. But this riveting book, Mean Spirit, embraced the heart and soul of what happened to the Osage people in Oklahoma when it was discovered that their allotments of land were rich in oil and they began dying oftentimes under suspicious circumstances in the 1920s. Stace Red Hawk was a Lakota Sioux Indian based in Washington, D.C. and working for the FBI, when he became aware of the suspicious deaths of the Native-Americans with oil-rich property subsequently coming to Oklahoma to investigate further.
The book cover describes this lovely book in this way:
"Yet for all its darker tones, MEAN SPIRIT is no simple melodrama. Suffused with a rich vision of the natural world and the possibilities for mankind within it, rendered with the grace, compassion, and wisdom of a truly assured writer, this is a book that captivates even as it instructs, a book of lasting importance."
On a personal note, I have to say that I loved this book. I first saw Linda Hogan, a Chickasaw poet, novelist and essayist, at The Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver in 1990 when she so graciously autographed my book. While I was enthralled with her message and returned to that same bookstore to listen to her speak, I have no explanation as to why I am now just getting into her beautiful work but I have a few more of her lovely books to work my way through, of course all thoughtfully inscribed and autographed.
April 9, 2018
Cherokee Hands
we drove into town
on a warm autumn day
in two thousand six,
and I could feel it even then,
it was here in the air.
we were in the land of
the Cherokee,
in the heart of our nation-
of stomp dances
shell shakers, and kenuche.
and it is here that we set up
our new home
in an old farm house,
on land that once belonged to
to a young Cherokee woman
and her new white husband.
she was given a land
of rolling hills,
tall grasses and trees
here in Oklahoma
where even rocks grow,
it was all of 160 acres.
some white men married Indians,
and I can't help but wonder when
she died three years later
if it wasn't by her husband's hand,
because this was one of the ways
back then that the white man
had taken our land.
this land has passed through
many hands over the years
from the Osage,
to the Cherokee,
to the white man,
and was cut again
to a mere 1/2 acre
when it finally passed into
my own Cherokee hands.
I visit the town's cemetery
where many chiefs of the cherokee
lie under a grove of old shade trees,
and I think when I am gone
i hope someone will scatter my ashes
in that hallowed ground
where we all remember
when this land was once
only in Cherokee hands.
Note: And this is what most of the book is about. Killing wives in order to get the land.
we drove into town
on a warm autumn day
in two thousand six,
and I could feel it even then,
it was here in the air.
we were in the land of
the Cherokee,
in the heart of our nation-
of stomp dances
shell shakers, and kenuche.
and it is here that we set up
our new home
in an old farm house,
on land that once belonged to
to a young Cherokee woman
and her new white husband.
she was given a land
of rolling hills,
tall grasses and trees
here in Oklahoma
where even rocks grow,
it was all of 160 acres.
some white men married Indians,
and I can't help but wonder when
she died three years later
if it wasn't by her husband's hand,
because this was one of the ways
back then that the white man
had taken our land.
this land has passed through
many hands over the years
from the Osage,
to the Cherokee,
to the white man,
and was cut again
to a mere 1/2 acre
when it finally passed into
my own Cherokee hands.
I visit the town's cemetery
where many chiefs of the cherokee
lie under a grove of old shade trees,
and I think when I am gone
i hope someone will scatter my ashes
in that hallowed ground
where we all remember
when this land was once
only in Cherokee hands.
Note: And this is what most of the book is about. Killing wives in order to get the land.
June 26, 2017
He thought that even a prophet, even a warrior, could not survive the ways of the Americans, especially the government with rules and words that kept human life at a distance and made it live by their regulations and books.Today, I had my first lecture for a class on medieval women, specifically with regards to their subversion of and by texts written about and by them and all the ramifications of the ecclesiastical in the phrase "body of evidence". It's the sort of theological narratology I can sink my teeth into not only because of a heritage of Catholicism and a newfound pleasure in the medieval thanks to the Canterbury Tales, but because of the in-your-face paradigm of, yes. This is power, what with the dissenters and the burnings and who knows when a female Pope is going to rear her head in the brave new world of the 21st century. Or will it prove the second millenium. What I'm getting at is Elisabeth of Schoenau's fraught relationship with the written word, never committing talk of Judgment Day to paper and always ready with an alibi when it came to her prophetic mortifications. Exist at a certain position on the hierarchy, and you are what you're written.
Father Dunne argued with Horse, "You can't add a new chapter to the Bible."The only people I'll trust to laugh in the face of genocide are those who've actually faced it. This work takes in handfuls of the bitter dregs that Almanac of the Dead swims in, so when push comes to a shove that's coupled to a measure of better prose, this academically trained and bitter reader is going to go for Silko. For those of you who like your mysteries and your broad character spreads and do not feed on rage like I do, this is a story that will only give you a "happy" ending if you've reevaluated your sense of "happy" by the end of it. You'll have to go to someone else if you want a knowledgeable take on how this work fits into the spectrum of Native American/First Nations/indigenous fiction with regards to whether it's trope-filled appeasement or true quality, but if you do, bear in mind the commentary has little worth if the commenter has no investment of life in the matter. People are well trained to care only about their own representational selves, and it takes more than the much abused biological function of empathy to break that habit.
Horse furrowed his brow and looked at the priest, "Hmmm, do you think I need more thou shalts?"
Go without any of the peace you have found here. It is the only way toward change. Go with a confused and angry mind.This work's especially good at grounding history in a mainframe that refuses to avoid interactions with events such as the Boxer's Rebellion due to the usual reasoning of one minority group at a time in a sea of white. Same goes for the whole money goes this way, culture goes that way, you can't possibly be your own person when you've got a whole thousands of years mystique behind you and yadda yadda yadda. You may not be especially tantalized by the mystery, but you'll learn a whole lot.
"Jesus, Belle, this is serious," the sheriff said. "Violence never solved anything."
"You're wrong about that. Around here violence solves everything."
November 6, 2023
Linda Hogan is literally amazing and I will read all of her novels and essay collections. I never wanted to finish this book and I will miss all the characters. Also the story revolves around the same events as killers of the flower moon which I didn’t know when I started it.
July 21, 2025
I just couldn’t finish this, way too wordy. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann was an awesome book and movie about the same thing.
August 19, 2011
This book should be read with fitzgerald's the great gatsby. The American experience across the country in the early years of the 1920s could not be any more disparate.
August 12, 2017
"Uncle Sam was a cold uncle with a mean soul and a mean spirit"
Confession: This book has been on my shelf, unread, since shortly after it was published. I met Hogan briefly and she autographed this book.
I learned, after reading KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, that Hogan fictionalized the story that Grann wrote about -- nearly 20 years before, and without Grann's exhaustive research.
I'm so glad I read the nonfiction first. I could trace the 'truth' through this novel...while at the same time, being affected emotionally in a totally different -- and deeper -- way.
Natives living in eastern OK during the 20's thought they had struck it rich with the oil discovered on their land...oil they still owned the rights to...they became immensely wealthy overnight, and became targets for every greedy white in the state.
This book begins with the murder of Grace Blanket, the richest woman in OK...We see the story through the eyes of the Natives who are trying to live in peace (and prosperity). But the forces against them are too strong.
Just like in Grann's book, the Federal Bureau Investigators become involved...and a Native detective appears in Hogan's fictional Pawhuska. Stace Red Cloud, a Lakota, is trying to find his way in this early 20th century world, and he moves farther from the white world through his work here.
At the heart of the book is Moses and Belle Graycloud, who are trying to hold their family and community together, to be good neighbors. But as the greedy whites continue to circle, and kill off their friends, it becomes clearer and clearer that there will be a breaking point.
I was fascinated by the plot points Hogan wove into her book that must have been known facts...Hale as the murderer, the white ally who was murdered on a train, the investigation by the fledgling FBI...it's all part of her narrative...and it makes such a powerful story.
As I read, I marked all the points that Hogan used what was known about this time...there are so many 'facts' in this book, facts made more horrible because she was able to fictionalize and add the pathos and interior monologues to her characters.
I am grateful for this book, and for the ugly truth it tells...where Whites profess that THEY are the 'real' Americans, and somehow deserve all the land and the riches and the rights. I am sorry it took me so long to read it.
Confession: This book has been on my shelf, unread, since shortly after it was published. I met Hogan briefly and she autographed this book.
I learned, after reading KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, that Hogan fictionalized the story that Grann wrote about -- nearly 20 years before, and without Grann's exhaustive research.
I'm so glad I read the nonfiction first. I could trace the 'truth' through this novel...while at the same time, being affected emotionally in a totally different -- and deeper -- way.
Natives living in eastern OK during the 20's thought they had struck it rich with the oil discovered on their land...oil they still owned the rights to...they became immensely wealthy overnight, and became targets for every greedy white in the state.
This book begins with the murder of Grace Blanket, the richest woman in OK...We see the story through the eyes of the Natives who are trying to live in peace (and prosperity). But the forces against them are too strong.
Just like in Grann's book, the Federal Bureau Investigators become involved...and a Native detective appears in Hogan's fictional Pawhuska. Stace Red Cloud, a Lakota, is trying to find his way in this early 20th century world, and he moves farther from the white world through his work here.
At the heart of the book is Moses and Belle Graycloud, who are trying to hold their family and community together, to be good neighbors. But as the greedy whites continue to circle, and kill off their friends, it becomes clearer and clearer that there will be a breaking point.
I was fascinated by the plot points Hogan wove into her book that must have been known facts...Hale as the murderer, the white ally who was murdered on a train, the investigation by the fledgling FBI...it's all part of her narrative...and it makes such a powerful story.
As I read, I marked all the points that Hogan used what was known about this time...there are so many 'facts' in this book, facts made more horrible because she was able to fictionalize and add the pathos and interior monologues to her characters.
I am grateful for this book, and for the ugly truth it tells...where Whites profess that THEY are the 'real' Americans, and somehow deserve all the land and the riches and the rights. I am sorry it took me so long to read it.
December 7, 2023
3,5… but too confusing at times for a 4. 😐
July 21, 2024
I read Mean Spirit as a fictional account of the same mistreatment of the Osage in Oklahoma during the 1920's as the journalistic account by David Grann in Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage Murders.
I often find fiction more "true" than non-fiction, and such was also the case here. If you are interested in this terrible chapter of American history, I recommend the novel first. To prove its truth to yourself, you can read Grann's well documented account (with photographs) afterwards. Grann does not mention the novel, which was written well before his book. I think it would have improved his account.
Mean Spirits is beautifully written with a thorough understanding of the native spirit.
I often find fiction more "true" than non-fiction, and such was also the case here. If you are interested in this terrible chapter of American history, I recommend the novel first. To prove its truth to yourself, you can read Grann's well documented account (with photographs) afterwards. Grann does not mention the novel, which was written well before his book. I think it would have improved his account.
Mean Spirits is beautifully written with a thorough understanding of the native spirit.
May 30, 2014
Linda Hogan’s novel about the Osage tribe during the Oklahoma oil boom blends historical facts, Native spirituality and magical realism in a drama about cultural survival, greed, murder, and love—love within families, between men and women, and love for the earth and all that lives on it.The story focuses on multiple protagonists: the members of Greycloud and Blanket families, the seer Michael Horse, and Stace Red Hawk, a Lakota man who comes to Oklahoma as a federal investigator looking into the murders of Indian people for their oil-rich land.
Hogan uses an omniscient narrator to change points of view seamlessly among the major players in the story. The style is suited telling the story of a People, as well as the stories of individual people. Her language is precise and vivid with character-driven flashes of humor. The complex plot is tightly crafted, a compelling story that never slows down. I was impressed with how perfectly she wove every seemingly small and incidental thread back into the narrative, and how elegantly she timed each shift in point of view.
The tragedy in this story has a Shakespearean breadth and depth. Though it has a thread of hope, it is hope surrounded by destruction. Hogan reminds us that we don’t stand outside of nature, and if we try, we will suffer the consequences. At the point where the book almost starts to preach, in the voice of Michael Horse, the humor of his friends taking him down a notch softens the message without erasing it. This is a serious work but you’ll never feel like you’re taking your literary medicine. Hogan captures the heart of Native culture, including the importance of good story-telling.
Hogan uses an omniscient narrator to change points of view seamlessly among the major players in the story. The style is suited telling the story of a People, as well as the stories of individual people. Her language is precise and vivid with character-driven flashes of humor. The complex plot is tightly crafted, a compelling story that never slows down. I was impressed with how perfectly she wove every seemingly small and incidental thread back into the narrative, and how elegantly she timed each shift in point of view.
The tragedy in this story has a Shakespearean breadth and depth. Though it has a thread of hope, it is hope surrounded by destruction. Hogan reminds us that we don’t stand outside of nature, and if we try, we will suffer the consequences. At the point where the book almost starts to preach, in the voice of Michael Horse, the humor of his friends taking him down a notch softens the message without erasing it. This is a serious work but you’ll never feel like you’re taking your literary medicine. Hogan captures the heart of Native culture, including the importance of good story-telling.
April 24, 2014
I can't understand all the adoration this ponderous novel has garnered. I suppose because the subject matter is about an oppressed minority, readers are able to participate in the political progress implied by the subject matter (they participate through their "liking"). Artistically the book is nightmare of too numerous characters all with similar motives and personalities, a shifting genre that never settles on a clear purpose (runs from melodrama, to magical realism, to naturalism), a voice that wavers between a children's book (short choppy sentences that repeat ideas in redundant sequences) to lyrical privilege to character's thoughts. The plot is uneven and difficult to follow (characters appear, say, on page 7 and then reappear on page 176 without re-introduction or clue to their salience). Symbols sre simplistic and suffer from obviousness. Is this story politically relevant? Yes. Does it need to be told? Yes, repeatedly. But the execution of the novel reminds one of overwritten prose from a creative writing class.
June 24, 2008
A frustrating, elliptical book--one that tells a story we can't turn away from. I enjoyed parts of it immensely, while other parts made me want to throw it across the room. But I can't stop thinking about it.
Read
July 1, 2020The month of June in Canada means indigenous book club month. MPR followed Canada’s footsteps and compiled a vibrant list of works to highlight native authors. Yes, I understand, a mere microscopic consolation for the wreckage that was/is colonization; however, books hold power. Now more than ever, in a time of division, misunderstandings, cultural silos, and a lack of intimate understanding, books can be a fulfilling first step. In fact, in the wake of all of the recent violence, this weekend the Star Tribune released a piece titled ‘Book Healing: what writers or color say we all should read now’. ‘Mean Spirit’ weaves in threads of magic realism akin to Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, yet Linda Hogan is distinct in voice and honors the Oklahoma Osage Indian experience, and the land of the North American continent as a whole.
Mean Spirit effortlessly paints of picture of an Oklahoma boom town and the collision of past, present and future – where colonial structures and realities cause time, and space, to inherently change and collapses upon itself. The plot centers on the town of Watona in the 1920s/1930s. A time marked by indigenous people adapting to the colonial conditions surrounding them – some fell into outdated roles of ‘romanticized noble savage’ while others married white folks and other still ran for the hills, to hide and preserve their original knowledge with superhuman strength. During that time the presence of boarding schools, Christianity and alcohol were menacing to the Osage people, yet colonialism came to a cataclysmic explosion when an old dowser, Michael Horse, discovered a sticky black substance when out searching for a well. He was discouraged at his discovery, thinking himself old and rusty at his art of water witching, but soon after an ominous feeling replaced that of disappointment and the omen was noted. This substance, black gold, would change everything, he was sure of it.
The tale goes on to weave in the experiences of several families admits the oil boom, some with oil unknowingly under their feet and others who sold the rights and live luxuriously. However, gruesome murders and questionable insurance policies taken out by the oil baron himself call attention to a Lakota lawyer in Washington D.C. The story outlines the complexities of boom town life – what it means for the original inhabitants, as well as the transplant labor, and the extremes people go to acquire wealth or protect it – be it oil/money or knowledge/family/the land. Relevant as ever, in an era of extreme extraction –proposed pipelines over our great lakes, fracking altering the landscape of the Dakotas, deep drilling in the oceans and the dangerous transportation of all these materials to refineries miles and miles away. Hogan expertly entrances the reader in both the overarching lesson, as well as the intricate details, of the Osage Indian experience during those fateful years in the 1920s. Sadly, the reality she weaves with her words is like a spell – we are still facing the immense socio-emotion, spiritual and political implications of oil economies. Hogan asks us to examine how our economics shape our souls, our families and our communities – and questions whether we are willing to sell our true wealth, that which cannot and should not be sold, for temporary liquid wealth – that which will rot our souls from the inside out.
Mean Spirit effortlessly paints of picture of an Oklahoma boom town and the collision of past, present and future – where colonial structures and realities cause time, and space, to inherently change and collapses upon itself. The plot centers on the town of Watona in the 1920s/1930s. A time marked by indigenous people adapting to the colonial conditions surrounding them – some fell into outdated roles of ‘romanticized noble savage’ while others married white folks and other still ran for the hills, to hide and preserve their original knowledge with superhuman strength. During that time the presence of boarding schools, Christianity and alcohol were menacing to the Osage people, yet colonialism came to a cataclysmic explosion when an old dowser, Michael Horse, discovered a sticky black substance when out searching for a well. He was discouraged at his discovery, thinking himself old and rusty at his art of water witching, but soon after an ominous feeling replaced that of disappointment and the omen was noted. This substance, black gold, would change everything, he was sure of it.
The tale goes on to weave in the experiences of several families admits the oil boom, some with oil unknowingly under their feet and others who sold the rights and live luxuriously. However, gruesome murders and questionable insurance policies taken out by the oil baron himself call attention to a Lakota lawyer in Washington D.C. The story outlines the complexities of boom town life – what it means for the original inhabitants, as well as the transplant labor, and the extremes people go to acquire wealth or protect it – be it oil/money or knowledge/family/the land. Relevant as ever, in an era of extreme extraction –proposed pipelines over our great lakes, fracking altering the landscape of the Dakotas, deep drilling in the oceans and the dangerous transportation of all these materials to refineries miles and miles away. Hogan expertly entrances the reader in both the overarching lesson, as well as the intricate details, of the Osage Indian experience during those fateful years in the 1920s. Sadly, the reality she weaves with her words is like a spell – we are still facing the immense socio-emotion, spiritual and political implications of oil economies. Hogan asks us to examine how our economics shape our souls, our families and our communities – and questions whether we are willing to sell our true wealth, that which cannot and should not be sold, for temporary liquid wealth – that which will rot our souls from the inside out.
March 21, 2018
A much easier and more interesting account of the Osage murders in Oklahoma than David Grann’s non-fiction account, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON. Obviously, a novel takes liberties, but I thought the novel successfully depicted the issues of concern. The writing was not spectacular, but it was engaging and even compelling in parts.
June 21, 2014
I loved this book and I love Linda Hogan..
July 23, 2019
I thought I would enjoy this more the second time. But NOT
August 4, 2023
I have read many books classified as “the great American novel.” This book belongs in that category without doubt.
April 2, 2016
Rating this book is a complicated thing and how a person rates it would be heavily impacted by the criteria they're using. I mean, I realize that's a super general thing to say that's applicable to any review but when reflecting on this book it really hit home. Am I rating whether or not it was an enjoyable read? Because it wasn't. It was depressing as hell. But so was The Grapes of Wrath and I have a freaking tattoo from that book. Am I rating whether or not the writing is good? Because it is but it's also hard. Not the word usage but the fact that for the first seventy-five or so pages there are so many god damn characters that I had to give up trying to keep them straight in the grander scheme and just concentrate on what the character in front of me was doing on the specific page I was reading. Once the background was set up and the author focused on the key characters it was much smoother sailing and inevitably worth it.
This book tells the story of Native Americans (the author uses the term Indians) living in Oklahoma in the 1920s. This particular tribe was deeded land by the U.S. that ended up being oil rich as all hell. Some folks fond themselves mighty wealthy and then a bunch of murdering started up. There's also a lot of horse training going on.
The story was depressing because, though this particular tale may be fictionalized, it was - and still is - a reality for way too many indigenous people. I was also sort of uncomfortable with this book being deemed magical realism. I get why but the only real "magic" stuff going on was actual native ceremonies and I think it's beyond rude to refer to them as "magic". Well, and that guy that died but then was sort-of alive and more human than ghost - enough to marry someone, I guess. So there's that. OK, I guess I'm comfortable with the term. Forgive me, fearless readers.
This book tells the story of Native Americans (the author uses the term Indians) living in Oklahoma in the 1920s. This particular tribe was deeded land by the U.S. that ended up being oil rich as all hell. Some folks fond themselves mighty wealthy and then a bunch of murdering started up. There's also a lot of horse training going on.
The story was depressing because, though this particular tale may be fictionalized, it was - and still is - a reality for way too many indigenous people. I was also sort of uncomfortable with this book being deemed magical realism. I get why but the only real "magic" stuff going on was actual native ceremonies and I think it's beyond rude to refer to them as "magic". Well, and that guy that died but then was sort-of alive and more human than ghost - enough to marry someone, I guess. So there's that. OK, I guess I'm comfortable with the term. Forgive me, fearless readers.
June 29, 2009
Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan evokes an astonishingly real sense of loss as the inhabitants of Watona, OK and its surrounding area come to grips with the evaporation of their traditional ways and the incoming, overpowering culture of greed brought by the burgeoning oil industry in the 1920's. While the story is a mystery, it is not solved by a single detective or amateur sleuth. Each main character, separately and in his or her own way, seeks the truth of why so many Indians in the community have been murdered.
Though very sad and told in third-person omniscent point of view and with sometimes passive writing, Hogan's story is a loving, beautifully lyrical portrayal of Native American life as it shifts between the old ways and the new. But with the rise of new ways, comfort is lost and survival is found in returning to the old ways. The eternal connection between human and the earth is palpable, a feeling we should all understand speaks far more truth than any highly organized religion, government or other entity pretends to give.
Though very sad and told in third-person omniscent point of view and with sometimes passive writing, Hogan's story is a loving, beautifully lyrical portrayal of Native American life as it shifts between the old ways and the new. But with the rise of new ways, comfort is lost and survival is found in returning to the old ways. The eternal connection between human and the earth is palpable, a feeling we should all understand speaks far more truth than any highly organized religion, government or other entity pretends to give.
August 28, 2011
This is a remarkable portrayal of a people in the most desperate of situations, and in their response to those circumstances, reveal who they truly are - admirable, courageous, and accepting - countering the meanness about them.
The story is set in Osage Indian territory in Oklahoma in the 1920s and begins with the murder of Grace Blanket, "the richest Indian in the world," though there are allusions to earlier violence, mysterious deaths and cover ups. Certain greedy individuals plot to kill off natives holding title to oil-producing land around Watona such that the land of these peaceful natives seems as if possessed of evil spirits.
A wonderful mix of characters - natives, oil moguls, FBI, and local law enforcement interact in a raucous era of riches pitted against old ways. Hogan depicts the history artfully, intending to show this is not just a race war, but a war against the Earth itself.
Linda Hogan, a master writer with something to say, also paints a true to life picture of the times and their troubles.
The story is set in Osage Indian territory in Oklahoma in the 1920s and begins with the murder of Grace Blanket, "the richest Indian in the world," though there are allusions to earlier violence, mysterious deaths and cover ups. Certain greedy individuals plot to kill off natives holding title to oil-producing land around Watona such that the land of these peaceful natives seems as if possessed of evil spirits.
A wonderful mix of characters - natives, oil moguls, FBI, and local law enforcement interact in a raucous era of riches pitted against old ways. Hogan depicts the history artfully, intending to show this is not just a race war, but a war against the Earth itself.
Linda Hogan, a master writer with something to say, also paints a true to life picture of the times and their troubles.
April 28, 2023
This is an incredible work of historical fiction that lingers on the daily textures of 1920s Osage life in an imagined oil boom town racked with murder, theft, and earth-splitting explosions. Through the dozen of characters and unrelenting plots, Hogan also inserts these brief asides on US law and Indian policy--clarifying! There are some issues with modulating the cliches of melodrama and pacing, especially toward the quick-cut end after hundred of pages of slowly simmering development.
I assigned this to undergraduate students for the first time this semester and it will now be on my regular rotation for American literature and Native American/Indigenous Studies courses. I framed it as an alternative/supplement to the wildly popular Killers of the Flower Moon, a non-fiction white NYT journalist's telling of the serial murders on Osage territory.
I assigned this to undergraduate students for the first time this semester and it will now be on my regular rotation for American literature and Native American/Indigenous Studies courses. I framed it as an alternative/supplement to the wildly popular Killers of the Flower Moon, a non-fiction white NYT journalist's telling of the serial murders on Osage territory.
September 11, 2019
If you have read or thought about reading Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI then this is the book that is the heart and soul of that history. It is a good idea to read the two together.
This book sat on my shelf unread and moved everywhere with me for a long time, maybe 20 years. Am so glad I hung onto it. This was a good time to read it. It will remain on my shelves.
It's a long story, told in two parts. Without chapter breaks it reveals the inner rhythm of the life of its characters.
This is a healing book.
This book sat on my shelf unread and moved everywhere with me for a long time, maybe 20 years. Am so glad I hung onto it. This was a good time to read it. It will remain on my shelves.
It's a long story, told in two parts. Without chapter breaks it reveals the inner rhythm of the life of its characters.
This is a healing book.
May 10, 2011
Depressing and accurate historical fiction of horrific human behavior and greed that pocs the history of the United States. I would say this is a must read for anyone interested in contextualizing the atmosphere of fear and confusion that was generated in the Osage community during the 1920's oil boom. Also, perhaps a good read, if you want to understand the history and way American Oil Companies profited from the murders of the Osage people. A good companion book of Non-fiction is "The Deaths of Cybil Bolton: An American History" By Dennis McAuliffe.
December 17, 2020
Another book I had to read for my Native American literature course. I enjoyed it. So I'm not sure why I didn't bump it up to 4 stars. The story was good. But there was something lacking for me. Maybe it was partly because some of the stories for some of the characters felt unfinished. Although I believe, that was part of the author's intent. Or that some story lines felt haphazard or disjointed. Like they weren't cohesive. But there was something that just didn't quite make me REALLY enjoy it. I wish I could have.
July 4, 2007
This is a beautiful and important book, and it helped me understand my father's family more deeply.
March 11, 2022
I loved this one, it’s very special. I hope it gets more attention when the Killers of the Flower Moon movie comes out.
November 19, 2025
Linda Hogan wrote her novel MEAN SPIRIT some 27 years before the publication of the best selling non-fiction KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON and did not benefit from all the historical research committed to paper during the intervening time. Yet the story was well known by some, and dramatic elements were preserved, so that at some point in the future, perhaps, this story could be retold. In this work the author reveals the many benefits from telling the story in the way she did. For me these methods also reveal the shortcomings of a storytelling NOT centered in a native American tradition.
In 1972 Margaret Atwood dared to publish a book suggesting characteristics of a distinctly Canadian literature in her book: Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature. What she attempted to do there is describe how a people’s relationship to the land informed their storytelling, and this storytelling then helps illuminate the Canadian character. South of the border we might best describe the US character as being informed by the varieties of industry which shaped the wealth of the US, as illustrated perhaps by Herman Melville's iconic revelation of the whaling industry in Moby Dick. Certainly Melville reveals something of the American (US) character, but just as certainly so does Linda Hogan. How she does this is by challenging some long accepted traditions in story telling.
I am quite used to reviewing works of literature that center on a specific character, or a specific family, and revealing how these may interact with geography or history, thus perhaps revealing something of their place and time. Although there are repeated characters, this book accomplishes a description of place and time not from the POV of the characters, but from a POV of the characters relationship to one another, their larger community, their history, the land, and the animals they share the land with. The larger community may be ethnically diverse (another very American characteristic, we must admit), but the POV is largely centered upon the relationships of indigenous members and not so much the white colonists.
The storytelling structure is most interesting to me. The only formal division of the text appears as two parts: part one opening in a very hot Oklahoma summer in 1922, and part two opening in the spring of 1923. The importance of this division is simply to demark the passage of time. To appreciate this time you do require a little historical background, namely that the Native people who occupied Oklahoma during this period were largely all refugees forcibly removed from their tribal homelands further East in a piece of US history known as the “trail of tears”. Sometime afterwards oil is discovered underneath the soil, thus setting into motion another American tradition where displaced people need to be removed again to allow for more efficient resource extraction. Displacement in the early 1920s consisted mainly of murder and corruption, aided by the abuses of law enforcement.
The narrative sections (NOT chapters) are divided by no more than an extra space often used to suggest that we may have switched POV’s to another character. Sometimes these sections are no more than a handful of paragraphs long, and sometimes they might go on for several pages. They sort of merge into one another at some point even as they appear designed to detail different narrative themes. What connects all these themes is similar to what this white reader often experienced when visiting an indigenous community, namely that story telling often covered family relations, extended family relations, and the relations of everyone else sometimes going several generations back. This is a story not of an individual person as much as it is a story of a people.
On the surface you may see this story as one of terrorism. Some residents of the community, made wealthy by the “payment days”, that quarterly occasion when everyone came into town to receive dividends on their oil and the white storeowners jacked up the price of everything to take advantage of those with suddenly a lot of money to spare. The spending patterns of the indigenous people were simultaneously a boon to the whites who profited so handsomely, but also an excuse illustrating that “those people” were not capable of managing their money. So court appointed advocates, always white, were assigned control of the wealth. For those whites who dislike the legal profession, they found other means to assume power over the new found oil.
The community experiences this terror so thoroughly that at one point when oil comes to the surface on a particular farm, the owners of the farm do everything they can to hide the evidence knowing that the discovery of oil may lead to their mysterious disappearance and/or death. No amount of possible wealth can make them reveal their secrets.
But to see this novel as only a story of terror is to miss the forest for the trees. The trees in this case being the remarkable evidence of resilience despite a history of oppression designed, if we were to be honest, to end in genocide. We see the same pattern emerging among those who set up tents in the rubble that was once Gaza. The stories are at once terrifyingly horrific and beyond human imagination, but are at the same time a story of persistence that survives despite the occasional war crime.
I would like to think this is an American characteristic as well, but I must be careful here to avoid slipping into a narrative of American exceptionalism. Truth is, as I write this, efforts are underway to erase the proud history of American resilience in places like the Smithsonian Museum of American History. This is done so that the people of the US need not be embarrassed by historical events such as the institution of slavery or the genocide of the Native people, as such stories tend to cast us in a negative light. Linda Hogan, then, has made a very important contribution attempting to prevent the erasure of this history, no matter how uncomfortable it may be for some of us to acknowledge. I for one am thankful, and even a little proud.
In 1972 Margaret Atwood dared to publish a book suggesting characteristics of a distinctly Canadian literature in her book: Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature. What she attempted to do there is describe how a people’s relationship to the land informed their storytelling, and this storytelling then helps illuminate the Canadian character. South of the border we might best describe the US character as being informed by the varieties of industry which shaped the wealth of the US, as illustrated perhaps by Herman Melville's iconic revelation of the whaling industry in Moby Dick. Certainly Melville reveals something of the American (US) character, but just as certainly so does Linda Hogan. How she does this is by challenging some long accepted traditions in story telling.
I am quite used to reviewing works of literature that center on a specific character, or a specific family, and revealing how these may interact with geography or history, thus perhaps revealing something of their place and time. Although there are repeated characters, this book accomplishes a description of place and time not from the POV of the characters, but from a POV of the characters relationship to one another, their larger community, their history, the land, and the animals they share the land with. The larger community may be ethnically diverse (another very American characteristic, we must admit), but the POV is largely centered upon the relationships of indigenous members and not so much the white colonists.
The storytelling structure is most interesting to me. The only formal division of the text appears as two parts: part one opening in a very hot Oklahoma summer in 1922, and part two opening in the spring of 1923. The importance of this division is simply to demark the passage of time. To appreciate this time you do require a little historical background, namely that the Native people who occupied Oklahoma during this period were largely all refugees forcibly removed from their tribal homelands further East in a piece of US history known as the “trail of tears”. Sometime afterwards oil is discovered underneath the soil, thus setting into motion another American tradition where displaced people need to be removed again to allow for more efficient resource extraction. Displacement in the early 1920s consisted mainly of murder and corruption, aided by the abuses of law enforcement.
The narrative sections (NOT chapters) are divided by no more than an extra space often used to suggest that we may have switched POV’s to another character. Sometimes these sections are no more than a handful of paragraphs long, and sometimes they might go on for several pages. They sort of merge into one another at some point even as they appear designed to detail different narrative themes. What connects all these themes is similar to what this white reader often experienced when visiting an indigenous community, namely that story telling often covered family relations, extended family relations, and the relations of everyone else sometimes going several generations back. This is a story not of an individual person as much as it is a story of a people.
On the surface you may see this story as one of terrorism. Some residents of the community, made wealthy by the “payment days”, that quarterly occasion when everyone came into town to receive dividends on their oil and the white storeowners jacked up the price of everything to take advantage of those with suddenly a lot of money to spare. The spending patterns of the indigenous people were simultaneously a boon to the whites who profited so handsomely, but also an excuse illustrating that “those people” were not capable of managing their money. So court appointed advocates, always white, were assigned control of the wealth. For those whites who dislike the legal profession, they found other means to assume power over the new found oil.
The community experiences this terror so thoroughly that at one point when oil comes to the surface on a particular farm, the owners of the farm do everything they can to hide the evidence knowing that the discovery of oil may lead to their mysterious disappearance and/or death. No amount of possible wealth can make them reveal their secrets.
But to see this novel as only a story of terror is to miss the forest for the trees. The trees in this case being the remarkable evidence of resilience despite a history of oppression designed, if we were to be honest, to end in genocide. We see the same pattern emerging among those who set up tents in the rubble that was once Gaza. The stories are at once terrifyingly horrific and beyond human imagination, but are at the same time a story of persistence that survives despite the occasional war crime.
I would like to think this is an American characteristic as well, but I must be careful here to avoid slipping into a narrative of American exceptionalism. Truth is, as I write this, efforts are underway to erase the proud history of American resilience in places like the Smithsonian Museum of American History. This is done so that the people of the US need not be embarrassed by historical events such as the institution of slavery or the genocide of the Native people, as such stories tend to cast us in a negative light. Linda Hogan, then, has made a very important contribution attempting to prevent the erasure of this history, no matter how uncomfortable it may be for some of us to acknowledge. I for one am thankful, and even a little proud.
January 13, 2025
Incredible way to start the year! I‘ve been waiting for a book that would leave me in awe and here it is.
Mean Spirit tells the story of the Osage tribe during the Oklahoma oil boom. In the 1920s, oil was discovered under the tribe’s rightfully purchased land. It opened the door for a wave of money-hungry, dangerous people (mostly white people ofc) to threaten the spirits and traditions of the land.
It‘s the story of the Grayclouds, the Blankets and their incredible strength vs crooked oilmen, sheriffs and government officials. But also the story of the Hill people, Stace Red Hawk, Michael Horse, the hog priest, the runners, bats & eagles & wild horses & buffalos & bees. To be one with the earth.
Not only does Mean Spirit shed light on the tragic and horrible injustices the American Indian people faced in the light of corruption, conspiracy and dispossession orchestrated by the white world and it‘s ‚system‘, it criticises how money has made people lose their connection to themselves and nature.
Linda Hogan switches pace when needed. The fictional account had everything, from tension to surprise, to shock and anger, longing and admiration. Different perspectives and a vivid description straight to the point and to the heart.
‚Well, son‘ Horse said to the priest, ‚I think the Bible is full of mistakes. I thought I would correct them. For instance, where does it say that all living things are equal?‘
The priest shook his head. ‚It doesn‘t say that. It says man has dominion over the creatures of earth.‘
‚Well, that‘s where it needs to be fixed. That‘s part of the trouble, don‘t you see?‘ (270)
Mean Spirit tells the story of the Osage tribe during the Oklahoma oil boom. In the 1920s, oil was discovered under the tribe’s rightfully purchased land. It opened the door for a wave of money-hungry, dangerous people (mostly white people ofc) to threaten the spirits and traditions of the land.
It‘s the story of the Grayclouds, the Blankets and their incredible strength vs crooked oilmen, sheriffs and government officials. But also the story of the Hill people, Stace Red Hawk, Michael Horse, the hog priest, the runners, bats & eagles & wild horses & buffalos & bees. To be one with the earth.
Not only does Mean Spirit shed light on the tragic and horrible injustices the American Indian people faced in the light of corruption, conspiracy and dispossession orchestrated by the white world and it‘s ‚system‘, it criticises how money has made people lose their connection to themselves and nature.
Linda Hogan switches pace when needed. The fictional account had everything, from tension to surprise, to shock and anger, longing and admiration. Different perspectives and a vivid description straight to the point and to the heart.
‚Well, son‘ Horse said to the priest, ‚I think the Bible is full of mistakes. I thought I would correct them. For instance, where does it say that all living things are equal?‘
The priest shook his head. ‚It doesn‘t say that. It says man has dominion over the creatures of earth.‘
‚Well, that‘s where it needs to be fixed. That‘s part of the trouble, don‘t you see?‘ (270)
February 13, 2024
4 1/2 stars
I've been sitting with the end of this one for over a week. Closing the book was a big blow to me, as I became completely invested in these characters' stories. It's an emotionally heavy book written with care; Hogan clearly has some experience with poetry to manipulate words the way she does. I'm not surprised this was a Pulitzer finalist.
This covers the same time and place as Killers of the Flower Moon, but I haven't read Killers and can't comment on how it compares. I can tell you, however, that between the story and the writing, I had a visceral reaction to the raging injustice done to the Native Americans in Oklahoma during that time. The author is clever enough to frame this history as a mystery story, where there is a killer responsible for many deaths in this town. There is even a bit of comic relief in the character of John Stink, who believes he is dead and everyone around him confirms it, yet he continues to walk the Earth fully visible.
Great descriptions, great plot, great setting. It was a bit hard to get into at first, though, so I can't give it a full five stars.
I've been sitting with the end of this one for over a week. Closing the book was a big blow to me, as I became completely invested in these characters' stories. It's an emotionally heavy book written with care; Hogan clearly has some experience with poetry to manipulate words the way she does. I'm not surprised this was a Pulitzer finalist.
This covers the same time and place as Killers of the Flower Moon, but I haven't read Killers and can't comment on how it compares. I can tell you, however, that between the story and the writing, I had a visceral reaction to the raging injustice done to the Native Americans in Oklahoma during that time. The author is clever enough to frame this history as a mystery story, where there is a killer responsible for many deaths in this town. There is even a bit of comic relief in the character of John Stink, who believes he is dead and everyone around him confirms it, yet he continues to walk the Earth fully visible.
Great descriptions, great plot, great setting. It was a bit hard to get into at first, though, so I can't give it a full five stars.
April 17, 2024
Mean Spirit was everything I anticipated. It tells the story of the Osage people systematically murdered by White people for their oil rights in Oklahoma in the 1920s - from the Indigenous perspective. While the specifics of who/what have been fictionalized, the deeper truth of what happened and the impact it had is front and center. It isn’t an easy book to read. I picked it up, read a bit, and then put it aside several times over the past few months, when it became overwhelming.
I have THOUGHTS about the dynamics that resulted in a superb book, written more than 30 years ago and detailing this deep injustice, being overlooked in favor of the same story, written by a white man 27 years later, being turned into a movie. I’ve also read Killers of the Flower Moon, and appreciated it and yet - why does our culture persist in telling Indigenous stories through a white lens? If you want the facts from a white perspective, with emotional distance, which somehow manages to minimize the Osage people’s role in a story presumably about them, read the white man’s book. If you want the deeper truth, the full story told from within the broader context of a people losing their land, losing their culture, living in fear and trying to survive and find hope, read Mean Spirit. Or go ahead and read both.
I have THOUGHTS about the dynamics that resulted in a superb book, written more than 30 years ago and detailing this deep injustice, being overlooked in favor of the same story, written by a white man 27 years later, being turned into a movie. I’ve also read Killers of the Flower Moon, and appreciated it and yet - why does our culture persist in telling Indigenous stories through a white lens? If you want the facts from a white perspective, with emotional distance, which somehow manages to minimize the Osage people’s role in a story presumably about them, read the white man’s book. If you want the deeper truth, the full story told from within the broader context of a people losing their land, losing their culture, living in fear and trying to survive and find hope, read Mean Spirit. Or go ahead and read both.
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