The Great Oklahoma Swindle

With a sense of good-natured disbelief at the hilarious antics of Oklahoma and it's residents, the author is able to uncover exactly what makes this "flyover state" a fascinating case study in the dichotomy of America.

A special thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

If you are a reader like me who has been guilty of mentally cataloging Oklahoma as not much beyond quintessential heartland, that will begin to change very, very quickly within just a few pages of “The Great Oklahoma Swindle.” Russell Cobb’s passionate writing and his mix of history and memoir reveals a land that is marked by an unequally shared oil wealth, a deeply scarred history, an over-influence of evangelical Christianity, and a heap of paradoxes and inconsistencies from both past and present, all of which when combined make a place that is unlike anywhere else in the union. Prepare to be both fascinated and unnerved with this deep critical look into the Sooner State.

I really liked that the author was invested in the subject, having grown up in Oklahoma. I loved his simple writing and his brutally honest opinion about Oklahoma and what is happening and had happened.
I found the history of the sooner and boomer terminology fascinating.
Also, the plight of the Native Americans and the Dawes Act.
HOWEVER, I felt like the book tried to cover too much history while deep diving into NO particular event.
I wished to have known more about the Tulsa Massacre, but it was briefly mentioned, devoted only a few pages, and then left to other stories.
I felt that there was way TOO much attention paid to Tulsa and not enough to the entire state.

Overall, a good personal history kind of book, but not a deep dive into what the Oklahoma Swindle really was.

Wow, I had no idea that there is so much weird history (and more!) in Oklahoma. Now I'd like to visit there. It also makes me wonder whether other states have so much more going on than we know, too....

An informal history of Oklahoma that I found well researched and written it makes for fascinating reading

Too many people see Oklahoma as either an oil state or Indian Territory without knowing any of the varied history in my home state. This book is written by an Oklahoman who is obviously proud of his state and wants everyone to be as fascinated by our history as we are. There is not one square inch of Oklahoma that does not have a story to tell. Russell Cobb hits many of the highlights and throws out many topics for further research. Yes, he talks about Tulsa a lot, but that's okay. Tulsa has a HUGE presence in history. That just means Mr Cobb is lining up his next Oklahoma title. My out of state relatives who like to trash talk Oklahoma are all getting a copy of this book in the mail. Loved it!!!!

I've learned more about Oklahoma history in the last few years from books than I ever did in 8th grade Oklahoma history class.

Russell Cobb is a proud Okie - and this Okie in NY is proud of him too.

Oklahoma is a weird and wonderful state - with weird laws and history that is rarely mentioned. Cobb's writing tells his story - of race, class, ambition, anxiety. It's a state in transition, in a growth period, - let's say, it's in it's teenage years. It's a "fly-over state" for people - and those people are idiots.

Thank you Russell to proving that Oklahoma, event with this checkered past, is more than OK.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and Russell Cobb for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Russell Cobb’s The Great Oklahoma Swindle: Race, Religion, and Lies in America’s Weirdest State is guaranteed to infuriate closed-minded Oklahoma readers, open the eyes of those receptive to learning the real stories beneath the veneer, and surprise yet others by his audacity.

After years in Iowa, Texas, and Kansas, I moved to Oklahoma nearly forty years ago, longer than I lived in the other states combined. I’ve traveled throughout my adopted state and read a fair amount about it, including David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon and three novels about the Tulsa Race Riot/Massacre: Rilla Askew’s Fire in Beulah (2001), Jennifer Latham’s Dreamland Burning (2017), and Evan Ramspott’s Water Darling (2020). Because I live in the Tulsa area, I knew some of Cobb’s accounts of local news scandals, and I have joined the masses visiting the Gathering Place more than once. I will classify my overall reader response as falling between the second and third listed in my opening sentence.

Cobb draws upon his early, privileged years growing up in Tulsa’s Maple Ridge neighborhood—years in which he considered Tulsa and Oklahoma among the most boring places on earth. Then he discovered he had bought into many lies. In The Great Oklahoma Swindle, he combines his personal and family stories with reading, research, and interviews to expose those lies. In the process, he appears to spare no one: not himself, not his family members, and certainly not a host of Oklahoma law enforcement, politicians, oil men, newspapermen, and ordinary citizens ready to use their various powers to prey on others and to enhance their own wealth or the city or state’s reputation.

The stories Cobb tells and the “swindles” he exposes are too numerous to list, but among the most important focus on black Oklahoma towns, Creek land allotments during the Tulsa oil boom, and the Tulsa Race Riot/Massacre.

Here and there, Cobb includes a related but somewhat different chapter, such as “Where the Hell Is Oklahoma Anyway?” in which he discusses having set off a social media debate about whether Oklahoma is a Southern, Midwestern, or Southwestern state—or, perhaps, another Texas.

With chapter titles such as “You’re Not Doing Fine, Oklahoma,” “The Long Goodbye to Oklahoma’s Small-Town Jews,” “Okies in the Promised Land,” “Among the Tribe of Wannabes,” “Backward, Christian Soldier,” “The Fire Next Time,” and “Uncommon Commons,” The Great Oklahoma Swindle contains something for just about everybody. However, in today’s politically correct, hypersensitive climate, some would demand that the book come with a trigger warning: Trump supporters, racial bigots, and extreme Christian fundamentalists may want to look elsewhere for their reading material (although Cobb’s educational, broad-minded, and sometimes funny book might do them some good).

Despite the title and the above comments, do not assume that Cobb has set out to tear down the state. Although he left Oklahoma as a young adult, he grew up in Tulsa and still owns property here. In includes details about current residents, organizations and initiatives, and new laws that give him hope for a better future in which Oklahoma faces its past and moves beyond it. No longer an Oklahoman, Cobb demonstrates that he still cares about his home state.

Thanks to NetGalley, the University of Nebraska Press, and Russell Cobb for the Advance Reader Copy.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC. Interesting read. Tulsa native, Russell Cobb talks about the backstory of Tulsa- the Race massacre, the land that was swindled out from under Native Americans in the heart of the city, how Tulsa was founded and how oil makes or breaks the town. I did get bogged down in some of the facts and people but overall, very interesting! #thegreatoklahomaswindle #russellcobb

I have to admit, before I read this book, I knew very little about Oklahoma. Sure, I knew about the musical Oklahoma, the oil, the college football teams and a few other things but I sure learned a lot about the state from reading this book. This is an interesting, eye-opening read about the state's contradictions and lesser-known history. And it comes from someone who should know, a Tulsa native.

I'd highly recommend this to anyone interested in Oklahoma or anyone who likes to get the real story about a subject which they thought they knew.

I recently read this on my trip to visit my grandpa in Tulsa. I have visited Oklahoma multiple times a year since I was born. I had been wanting to read this and finally, I was like I am just going to sit down while I am here and read it. It was a good read and definitely gave you some background on Oklahoma, even if some of it was hard to read because let's face it, it wasn't good. It was interesting to read some stuff and then ask my grandpa about it and see if he remembered anything.