History is behind two books recently chosen by the One Read reading panel.
The announcement of the two titles came Tuesday, and ballot boxes are ready for readers to chose their favorite.
Although there were 140 book suggestions for the 2018 One Read title, committee members chose between "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grannor and "News of the Word" by Paulette Jiles.
Votes may be cast until April 27. Ballot boxes are at Daniel Boone Regional Library locations in Fulton, Ashland and Columbia, on the bookmobile and at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Columbia. People can also vote at oneread.org.
The winning title will be announced in May.
"Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI" is a detailed true crime non-fiction book. When white settlers pushed the Osage Nation into Oklahoma in the 1800s, the tribe retained the mineral rights to the infertile land they were forced to call home. The subsequent discovery of oil made the Osage rich, and the U.S. government appointed white "guardians" to help manage their wealth. In the early 1920s, a number of Osage Indians suddenly died under mysterious circumstances or were outright murdered. This campaign of terror spurred young J. Edgar Hoover and his newly established FBI to investigate, ultimately uncovering shocking depths of greed, bigotry and corruption. David Grann's dogged research and spellbinding storytelling combine to create a riveting true crime narrative.
The second book, "News of the World" by Paulette Jiles, is a lyrical and taut work of historical fiction. In postCivil War Texas, veteran and widower Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd makes a meager living traveling among small towns and reading newspapers to gatherings of news-hungry audiences. In Wichita Falls, Kidd is persuaded to accept $50 to escort an orphan girl, who was kidnapped and raised by Kiowa raiders, back to her German immigrant family in San Antonio. The girl Kidd called Johanna is fully assimilated to Kiowa life, and the two must negotiate their own relationship and the difficulties of travel through a harsh landscape into an unknown future.
One Read is a community-wide reading program coordinated by Daniel Boone Regional Library and cosponsored by a task force of local businesses, agencies, academic institutions and other groups that encourages adults of all ages to read and discuss a single book. More information about all the submitted titles and related One Read topics can be found at oneread.org.