Mean Spirit

Mean Spirit (1990) is the first novel by Chickasaw author Linda Hogan. Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1991, it was well-reviewed and established Hogan as an important Indigenous author.

The novel tells the story of what came to be known as the Osage murders, a string of killings in Oklahoma’s Osage country after oil was discovered on Osage land. The murders were ultimately discovered to have been the result of not only individual acts of anti-Indigenous violence, but also of widespread corruption, conspiracy, and cover-up: Many members of the Osage community, made wealthy by the oil rights that they owned and could lease out to various individuals, companies, and conglomerates, were murdered for those oil rights. Local individuals, business owners, law enforcement officers, and government officials were found to be complicit in the crimes.

At the time of its publication, Mean Spirit shed light on an often-overlooked portion of United States history, and many of its details are historically accurate. Mean Spirit engages thematically with the impact of anti-Indigenous racism and anti-Indigenous violence in the Osage community, the conflict between modernity and tradition in Osage country after the discovery of oil, and the interrelation of power, corruption, and greed.