Call number
Collections
Genres
Publication
Description
"A historical thriller by the Pulitzer and National Book Award-winning author that tells the riveting story of the Klan's rise to power in the 1920s, the cunning con man who drove that rise, and the woman who stopped them. The Roaring Twenties -- the Jazz Age -- has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants in equal measure, and took radical steps to keep these people from the American promise. And the man who set in motion their takeover of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D.C. Stephenson. Stephenson was a magnetic presence whose life story changed with every telling. Within two years of his arrival in Indiana, he'd become the Grand Dragon of the state and and the architect of the strategy that brought the group out of the shadows - their message endorsed from the pulpits of local churches, spread at family picnics and town celebrations. Judges, prosecutors, ministers, governors and senators across the country all proudly proclaimed their membership. But at the peak of his influence, it was a seemingly powerless woman - Madge Oberholtzer - who would reveal his secret cruelties, and whose deathbed testimony finally brought the Klan to their knees"--… (more)
User reviews
To learn of the presidents who either condoned or turned a blind eye to this hate group's actions was enlightening. To learn that the KKK had a group for everyone (the KKK for males, the KKK Women's Auxiliary, Ku Klux Kiddies, and Klan Klubs for high school students). To learn that there was a KKK chapter aboard a U.S. battleship and that there was Klan Day at the Indiana State Fair... all this was sobering. The Klan used Indiana's Horse Thief Brigades as its own morality police, and it had its own "poison squads" disseminating fake news. To learn how Indiana became the most saturated Klan state that passed the world's first eugenic sterilization law (which was later picked up by an additional thirty states) was chilling.
The Klan in Indiana had tentacles everywhere, from the governor's mansion to the smallest town, and the Grand Dragon of them all, D.C. Stephenson, was responsible for the huge upsurge in membership across the country. The man was a con man of the highest caliber-- and a violent sexual predator. After each scene in which Stephenson took center stage, I wanted to take a hot shower to wash him off. Repulsive isn't a strong enough word to describe this person. After all that Madge Oberholtzer suffered, it was wonderful to see that she, and she alone, was strong enough to take down this monster.
However, after finishing A Fever in the Heartland, I came away with a feeling of dread.
"Isn't it strange that with all our educational advantages," noted the Hoosier writer Meredith Nicholson, "so many Indiana citizens could be induced to pay $10 [the KKK membership fee] for the privilege of hating their neighbors and wearing a sheet?"
With the events of recent years, I can't help but think that many of us haven't moved very far away from the emotions that overwhelmed the people of Indiana in the 1920s. May we not be doomed to repeat such a dark chapter of our history.
Stephenson’s downfall was undoubtedly good for democracy, but Egan warns in the strongest terms against seeing the overall problem as Stephenson’s doing: “The Grand Dragon was a symptom, not a cause, of an age that has been mischaracterized as one of Gatsby frivolity and the mayhem of modernism. It’s entirely possible that the Klan fell apart not just because of scandals and high-level hypocrisy, but also because it had achieved all of its major goals—Prohibition, disenfranchisement of African Americans, slamming the door on immigrants ….” Hard not to see Trump as an echo, with much less public reaction to his impunity.
The writing in this book wasn't great--especially at the beginning. Seems like the editor was not paying attention.
After a simering feud with the head of the national KKK, Stephenson found himself in Indiana where he built a strong organization of ordinary white people telling them of the dangers of racial differences, Catholics, Jews, and immigration. Stephenson managed to live in a huge mansion, hold big parties, and claim many major politicans as friends.
He was also extremely violent with women. Madge Oberholtzer was a young woman who feel into his circle. Claiming that he loved her, he had her abducted, and took her to Chicago where he raped, beat her, and bit her all over her body. She was so injured, that she took poison in an attempt at suicide She was delivered back to her home where she died. Stephenson was then charged with murder and against all odds, was convicted and spent most of the rest of his life in prison.
The story is one that I was not familiar with and there are aspects of Stephenson's narrative that sound too much like is heard in the news today.
Thankfully the blinders on people's eyes started to fall off when the Grand Dragon of the KKK in Indiana was tried and convicted for rape and murder. Soon other leaders were convicted of crimes, and it became obvious that the Klan was not about wholesome Christian values but about rape, murder, and political corruption. Within three years, Klan membership in the US was down 90%.
“As the lights were turned on again, few would admit, even sheepishly, they ever had belonged to the Klan,” recalled Harold Feightner.
It is a scary part of history that isn't talked about. Because, obviously, if your grandparents were in the Klan, they certainly would have never admitted it.
If this book were published ten years ago, many of us would have read it, thought it was good, and set it aside, gratefully thinking that it was good to live in a country where such things no longer happen. In light of recent events, though, the book’s
The 1920s America that Timothy Egan describes sounds more like a fantasy akin to PKD’s [book:The Man in the High Castle|216363] than a serious work of American history, but it really happened, however much our parents and grandparents would like to pretend that it didn’t.
After World War One, a host of changes threatened to undermine the stability that many white Americans across the country believed they were entitled to. Immigrants from Europe were pouring into the country. Added to that, millions of black families were fleeing north to escape Jim Crow oppression in what would come to be called the Great Migration. Added to that, the whole world was changing. Women’s dresses and hairstyles were getting shorter and the music, well, enough about that. America needed someone who could stand up and defend good old white protestant family values. Enter the Ku Klux Klan. Crushed and outlawed by President Grant, the Klan reappeared in 1915 and quickly became a political powerhouse with membership as high as 6 million. The Klan boasted 15 senators in its ranks, as well as three governors (Oregon, Colorado & Indiana).
Much of the credit for the Klan’s rapid growth was attributed to a charismatic flim-flam artist from Texas, D.C. Stephenson, who settled in Indiana and realized early on “that he could make far more money from the renewable hate of everyday white people than he could ever make as an honest businessman or a member of Congress”. With that thought in mind, he joined the Klan and in no time at all was appointed Grand Dragon of the Indiana Klan. Soon, an estimated 400,000 Hoosiers were “induced to pay $10 for the privilege of hating their neighbors and wearing a sheet.” $4 out of every ten went straight into Stephenson’s pocket, along with a substantial profit from sheet sales. His political power was such that he hand-picked Klansman Ed Jackson to be elected governor. Jackson promised to appoint Stephenson to a soon-to-be-vacant senate seat but Stephenson set his sites even higher, on the White House. He often boasted “I am the law in Indiana,” and few doubted that it was true.
Then he met Marge Oberholzer, a bright, quick-witted and strong-willed young woman who was well-known and liked throughout Irvington. This meeting set off a tragic chain of events that led to one of Indiana’s most notorious murder trials and changed the lives and fortunes of millions.
What shocked me the most about this book is how much it reminded me of recent events. That anyone could boast that they would face no consequences for crimes they could or did commit tells me that they have no moral compass. Furthermore, to build one’s political power on hatred, bigotry and intolerance is unconscionable. Finally, when Stephenson said “He believed the trial was a hoax and a witch hunt. The only way they could bring down this giant of a man was…to entrap him,” I couldn’t help but think of someone else who has said the same thing, and that person actually did make it into the White House.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. W.E.B. Du Bois wrote that behind "the yelling, cruel-eyed demons who break, destroy, maim, lynch, and burn at the stake is a knot, large or small, of normal human beings, and these human beings at heart are desperately afraid of something." We all need to face our fears like civilized human beings and not cave in to the baser instincts that some would use to control us.
…
FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
*5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
*4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
*3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
*2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
*1 Star – The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.
Joey, Joe R, Jean, Ken, Bere, Ann, Len, and Jan at the Joeys’ condo.
The hate group hated Jews, Blacks, Catholics and immigrants. They were endorsed by ministers, judges, police, governors, and senators who threatened those who disagreed or who were among the hated.