A Fever In The Heartland | Timothy Egan

Timing is everything, especially for nonfiction, and Timothy Egan hit it just right with A Fever In The Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot To Take Over America, And The Woman Who Stopped Them. I heard Egan speak at our local literary lecture series and he was incredible. Have you noticed how journalists are often engaging speakers? I guess you need a real gift of gab to be an investigative journalist since getting people to spill their stories is your stock in trade. Anyway, Egan was fascinating. At one point he referred to himself as an historian (and he was asked about the distinction between that and a journalist) which was an easy slip to make.

Fever tells a story I'd certainly never heard about how the KKK flourished in the 1920s, after it was put out of business in the post Civil War era. Mayors, Governors, members of Congress — you'll be shocked to hear how many of these men were sworn Klansmen during that period. Indiana, the whitest state in the country, was a hotbed for the Klan due largely to the work of D.C. Stephenson, a pretty sleazy and opportunistic fraud who sees the Klan as a way to line his pockets and acquire incredible political power. The history of what happened in Indiana and other states at the hands of the Klan is horrifying, all the more so because this dark story has been untold for so many years. Egan's research had him digging into attics and talking with family members, many or most of whom didn't realize that Grandpa, or Uncle Joe were sworn Klansman.

The Klan hated everyone — Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants. They were true radicals who would go to any length to oppress anyone who wasn't white. The woman in the subtitle, Madge Oberholtzer, didn't have power. But in the end, it's her bravery and fortitude that pushed her to expose the extreme cruelity and hypocrisy that, in short order, causes the Klan to fall.

This is a real page-turner, made all the more riveting because it's true. Egan's writing is strong and clear and visual. It's an emotional read. With all that's going on in the world, it's timely to read how extreme views can start to be seen as normal if they're repeated enough. How cults of personality seem destined to fail, eventually. How fear can warp how seemingly normal people see others. Read it.