Sierra Crane Murdoch

Sierra Crane Murdoch

Crane Murdoch attended Middlebury College.

Sierra Crane Murdoch is a journalist and essay writer who mainly focuses on communities in the American West. Her first book, Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The book was named one of the best of 2020 by The New York Times, NPR, and Publisher’s Weekly. It was also nominated for the Edgar Award and won an Oregon Book Award.

Yellow Bird is part true crime and part social commentary. It tells the story of a murder on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota and follows an Arikara woman named Lissa Yellow Bird as she searches for a missing young white oil worker. Sierra spent eight years reporting on the oil boom in North Dakota and how it affected the Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation.

Her work has appeared on This American Life and in magazines like Harper’s, The Paris Review, The New Yorker online, Orion, The Atlantic, and High-Country News, where she was a contributing editor.

Sierra has received several fellowships, including ones from MacDowell, Bread Loaf, the Fund for Investigative Journalism, Middlebury Fellowships in Environmental Journalism, 11th Hour Food and Farming Fellowships, and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley. In 2023, she was the Kittredge Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Montana and has taught at both UC Berkeley and Middlebury College.

Yellow Bird is a carefully researched and powerful story that follows Lissa Yellow Bird and her relentless search for KC and others who have disappeared. The book also explores parts of Lissa’s life and background, giving readers a deeper understanding of her character.

One of the strengths of this book is how it shows the effects of the oil boom on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. It changed the land itself but also worsened the gap between the rich and the poor, bringing more drugs and violence to the community.

The story also explains how the struggles faced on the reservation today are deeply tied to a long history of trauma, unfair government policies, and the loss of Native land, culture, and ways of life not just in North Dakota, but across the United States. Learning about this history is both eye-opening and heartbreaking.

The book also highlights challenges in solving crimes on the reservation. Tribal police can only arrest tribal members, while county officers, who handle non-members, are often busy and under-resourced. This makes dealing with violence even more difficult.

Lissa herself is a complex figure, carrying her own trauma and family history. She is determined and brave, acting as a strong investigator throughout the story. The author, Sierra Crane Murdoch, writes that she chose to tell the story from Lissa’s point of view, reflecting the harsh reality where money is often valued over Indigenous lives. The violence described is part of a broader American history that many may not fully recognize.

This book is a compelling read for anyone interested in Native American history, the long-lasting effects of government policies, the impact of the oil industry on communities, or fans of true crime and social justice stories like Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann.

Sierra Crane Murdoch: Awards & Accolades

Crane Murdoch's book, Yellow Bird was nominated for the Edgar Award, Best Fact Crime, in 2021.

Sierra Crane Murdoch: Lists & Other Mentions

• Yellow Bird was a New York Times: 100 Notable Books in 2020.

Sierra Crane Murdoch: F.A.Q