Russell Cobb

Dr. Russell Cobb is an author and professor at the University of Alberta. His latest book is titled Ghosts of Crook County: An Oil Fortune, a Phantom Child, and the Fight for Indigenous Land (Beacon Press, 2024). His book The Great Oklahoma Swindle: Race, Religion, and Lies in America’s Weirdest State (Bison Books, 2020) won a Director’s Special Merit Award from the Oklahoma Department of Libraries in 2021. His nonfiction writing has appeared in Slate, NPR, the New York Times, and The Nation, among other places. Follow him on IG at @Scissortail74.
Nasty Newspapers, The Klan and Tulsa’s Gilded Age
Fake news as a pretext for violence? Rule by the wealthy elite? Sky-high inflation? We’ve heard this story before.
The True Story of Tulsa’s Forgotten Antihero, Sadie James
And a walk downtown in search of her saloon, the Bucket of Blood
South By Midwest: Or, Where Is Oklahoma?
Reflections on Oklahoma's complex regional identity.
Backwards Christian Soldier
When Tulsa's Rev. Billy James Hargis was at the height of his powers in the 1960s, he was considered a far-right extremist by Republicans and Democrats alike.
Brave New Park
Politics, philanthrocapitalism, and public investment define the origin story of Gathering Place, America's largest privately-funded park.