| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 36.2

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| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 36.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

The World's Richest Indian: The Scandal over Jackson Barnett's Oil Fortune. By Tanis C. Thorne. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. 292 pp. Illustrations, map, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. $35.00.)

In the early twentieth century a humble Creek Indian named Jackson Barnett became a media darling for reasons that now inspire the current coverage of tribes with lucrative casinos: Americans are fascinated with the rich, but expect most Indians to be poor. Barnett fit the poor Indian stereotype until the discovery of oil under his allotted land in 1912. Within a few years, his monthly income from oil was $47,082. His total earnings eventually exceeded three million dollars. As if that fabulous wealth was not enough to make Barnett newsworthy, scandals spiced up his rags-to-riches story. One juicy item was his elopement, at age 64, with a comely young white woman with an unwholesome reputation and an unabashed desire for his money. Another was the Indian commissioner's decision to let Baptist institutions and the dubious wife have much of Barnett's fortune. State and federal officials added a generous pinch of dirty tricks as they vied for control of Indian assets in Oklahoma.

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