Committing Faith in Public with author of “The Great Oklahoma Swindle”

Dr. Russell Cobb, currently Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Latin American Studies at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, is a longtime Tulsan who wrote many essays for This Land Press.

Some of those essay and other writings are the basis of The Great Oklahoma Swindle, an eye-popping read for anyone interested in what makes Oklahoma the unique and often weird place that it is.

Russ’s story ranges from the Black towns to the first Jewish community in Oklahoma in Ardmore, from the immoral and often violent swindling of Native lands and mineral rights by white men to the Tulsa Race Massacre, from the mix of greed-oil-Christianity that is denominated “petro-Christians” to the philanthropy and politics that created The Gathering Place, and more!

For this podcast, Russ and Center Executive Director Gary Peluso-Verdend talk about Russ’s deep connections to his hometown and especially the intertwined stories of religion, oil, greed, and culture.