{"product_id":"ghosts-of-crook-county-an-oil-fortune-a-phantom-child-and-the-fight-for-indigenous-land-9780807021392","title":"Ghosts of Crook County: An Oil Fortune, a Phantom Child, and the Fight for Indigenous Land","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 \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e For readers of David Grann's award-winning \u003ci\u003eKillers of the Flower Moon\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Russell Cobb\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Beacon Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/23\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.76lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.08h x 6.08w x 0.93d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780807021392\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\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.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"Russell Cobb \/ Paperback \/ English","offer_id":47579897528477,"sku":"9780807021392","price":37.63,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/files\/img_e898f81b-fad3-4757-b089-d2bc64bb1d64.jpg?v=1768898209","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/ghosts-of-crook-county-an-oil-fortune-a-phantom-child-and-the-fight-for-indigenous-land-9780807021392","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}