The oil underground in the Osage Nation is gooey and thick and chemical, altogether quite unappealing.

But its worth doesn't come from the way it looks and smells.

Every barrel of black gold carries wealth.

Oh yes, lots and lots of that.

It creates value.

It lifts up life.

A purchasing power for fur coats, mansions, cars, and the chauffeurs who drive them.

As it emerges from the ground, the oil is refined, then snakes its way across the land far from its source.

It may not glitter, but you can see the cash it creates.

With every drop of oil, another shiny coin is added to the purse.

But oil wealth often brings along a darker quality of life.

One that can make those who desire it, lie, Grand, great to have you on the show.

Oh, it's great to be here, thank you. Your book, Killers of the Flower Moon, already a New York Times bestseller,

now receiving renewed praise and attention, and a Martin Scorsese movie with DiCaprio and DeNiro,

not a normal month in one's life, huh?

No, not one I ever expected.

Well, it is an astonishing story, rife with amazing history, so here we go.

Really, this story begins with the discovery

of tremendous deposits of oil under the Osage Reservation in what is today

north-central Oklahoma but the Osage moved to Oklahoma in the 1870s really set the table.

They were one of the few Native American nations to purchase their lands.

They bought their reservations, sold their previous territory in Kansas to the government under President Grant,

...