A Fever in the Heartland

The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them

Read it if you’re interested in: Narrative nonfiction, historical thrillers, America in the 1920s

A jaw dropping account of the Ku Klux Klan’s resurgence in America, the man behind the white mask and the unlikely woman who took them down.

I have determined after reading this book that I will inhale positively anything Timothy Egan puts on paper. His 2006 chronicle of the Great American Dust Bowl was one of the greatest pieces of historical reporting I’ve ever come across, but it’s possible he outdoes himself here.

What makes this so propulsive is the combination of subject matter and the mind boggling amount of first person accounting: court testimony, letters, diaries and newspapers from the time make it seem like its unfolding before our eyes, resulting in a remarkably lucid account of the KKK’s rise in 1920’s America.

The first half of this book is a cult of personality tale about a man named DC Stephenson, who brought the Klan back to life after it was driven underground. Stephenson is a caricature of a villain, a devil incarnate who held “parties that would have shamed Nero” and deployed tactics that would make the mafia blush. I read on with fury and awe as Stephenson harnessed America’s worst instincts to rally a massive group around hatred of the other: any immigrant, Jew, Black or Catholic (or anyone who disagreed with him) was fair game. Egan rigorously details how Stephenson consolidated power, bringing readers to the brink of despair before introducing the heroes of this story. 

The second half of this story morphs into a beautiful eulogy for one unlikely woman, a band of journalists and the smattering of Klan defiers who ultimately take down a madman and his obscenely large band of cronies. 

This is the best of literature: it casts a shining light on the horrors of the past but pays homage to the better angels of our nature which ultimately win the day. We must understand in order not to repeat. Anyone who thinks the country hasn’t made leaps and bounds to where it is today should take heed.