A Pipe for February: A Novel / Edition 1

by Charles H. Red Corn, Martin Scorsese

Overview

“A Pipe for February is an extraordinary novel: evocative, riveting, moving. Charles Red Corn illuminates what the Osage people went through during the 1920s, when oil profits had made them fabulously wealthy and when they began to die under mysterious circumstances—systematically targeted for their money. This novel, exquisitely written and filled with revelations, will hold you in its grip and never let you go.”—David Grann, author of New York Times Best Seller Killers of the Flower Moon
 
At the turn of the twentieth century, the Osage Indians owned Oklahoma’s most valuable oil reserves and became members of the world’s first wealthy oil population. Osage children and grandchildren continued to respect the old customs and ways, but now they also had lives of leisure: purchasing large homes, expensive cars, eating in fancy restaurants, and traveling to faraway places. In the 1920s, they also found themselves immersed in a series of murders. Charles H. Red Corn sets A Pipe for February against this turbulent, exhilarating background.

Tracing the experiences of John Grayeagle, the story’s main character, Red Corn describes the Osage murders from the perspective of a traditional Osage. Other books on the notorious crimes have focused on the greed of government officials and businessmen to increase their oil wealth. Red Corn focuses on the character of the Osage people, drawing on his own experiences and insights as a member of the Osage Nation.
 
In the new foreword, director Martin Scorsese reveals how reading A Pipe for February helped him better understand the Osage people and bring Killers of the Flower Moon to the screen.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806137261
Publisher:	University of Oklahoma Press
Publication date:	11/15/2005
Series:	American Indian Literature and Critical Studies Series , #44
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	284
Sales rank:	133,267
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.64(d)

About the Author

Charles H. Red Corn (1936–2017) was an independent writer living in Norman, Oklahoma. He is a member of the Tzi-zhu-wash-ta-ghi Clan (Peace Clan) of the Osage Tribe.

Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. 

Editorial Reviews

"A Pipe for February is an extraordinary novel: evocative, riveting, moving. Charles Red Corn illuminates what the Osage people went through during the 1920s, when oil profits had made them fabulously wealthy and when they began to die under mysterious circumstances—systematically targeted for their money. This novel, exquisitely written and filled with revelations, will hold you in its grip and never let you go"—David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon—a New York Times #1 bestseller—and award-winning staff writer at The New Yorker
 

“…the story is an enthralling one [and] Red Corn's loving descriptions of Osage customs and the moral dilemmas posed by their sudden wealth that make this book a particularly rewarding read.” – Publishers Weekly

 

“Prose filled with descriptive beauty…”—The Historical Novels Review
 

“A Pipe for February subtly weaves together some of the richest themes of contemporary American Indian Literature.” —Robert Warrior, author of Tribal Secrets: Recovering American Indian Intellectual Traditions
 

“Anyone off Osage background has known that there was a lot more to tell about the Osage murders. Having heard about those murders all his life from people who lived through them and knew the people involved, Charles Red Corn is able to supply the ‘Osage side’ of that story.” —Carter Revard, author of An Eagle Nation
 

“Charles Red Corn has captured the heart and soul of Osage County in the 1920s.” —Elise Paschen, author of Infidelities
 

“Thematically rich.” —Kirkus


 

From the Publisher

Red Corn bases his debut novel on a real-life series of murders that plagued the Osage Indians in the 1920s. The Osage of Oklahoma had been extraordinarily wealthy since the turn of the century, when it was discovered that their land held vast oil reserves. Now, they try to "live in both the past and the future," enjoying the big cars, fancy homes, European clothes and foreign travel bought with the money from the leased oil wells while nominally retaining many of the old traditions. All this is threatened by a rash of strange, "accidental" deaths. Protagonist John Grayeagle observes the emotional toll of these deaths on the tribe; as the victims receive full tribal funerals, elders warn that the so-called accidents are really murders by resentful whites, and will not stop until the Osage fight back instead of assimilating. When John's grandfather dies, John becomes certain that his close friend, Molly, is next on the hit list. He teams up with Tom, a patriotic WWI vet who grew up with John's family, to find the killers. While the culprits are the predictable lot of greedy whites seeking to profit from the oil-rich land, the story is an enthralling one with some taut, slam-bang action. Yet it's Red Corn's loving descriptions of Osage customs and the moral dilemmas posed by their sudden wealth that make this book a particularly rewarding read. (Nov.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Red Corn's debut, the 44th volume in the American Indian Literature Series, is an unusual but flat tale of oil wealth and a string of mysterious fatal accidents among the Osage tribe in the 1920s. In the midst of an ongoing oil boom that has made all his tribe wealthy, aspiring artist John Grayeagle has been living with his grandpa near Pawhuska, Oklahoma, after his parents were killed in a car wreck. When his elder sickens and dies, however, leaving a sizable estate to him, John is thrust into a position of responsibility-a position he's clearly not ready for. The days of idle conversation with friends over tea and French pastries continue as John alternates between trying to decide what to paint and whether to take direct control of his inheritance instead of letting the Bureau of Indian Affairs handle it. The latter decision is complicated by conflicting advice from the lawyer father of the white woman he's seeing and his own family attorney. But when two close friends his age die separately and suspiciously, John begins to understand that the issues of tribal wealth and mortal danger are related. With the aid of family friends and his own contacts, he pieces together an ugly puzzle of fraud and murder, and in the process makes the connection to his heritage that allows him to find meaning as an artist. Thematically rich, but with cardboard characters.

Kirkus Reviews