A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them

Today's nonfiction post is on A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan. It is 432 pages long and is published by Viking. The cover is a picture of downtown Irving, Indiana, c. 1909. The intended reader is someone who likes history, true crime, and where the two meet. There is foul language, sexuality and rape, and violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- 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 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.
A FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND marries a propulsive drama to a powerful and page-turning reckoning with one of the darkest threads in American history.

Review- A fascinating read about a crime and history that I knew nothing about. This is really about the spread of the KKK in Indiana and the conman who spearheaded it. Stephenson, not his real name, came into Indiana in the 1920's and found himself a new grift, selling the ideas of the Klan to the Hoosier state. Business, sadly, was good. So Stephenson got a lot of power in the highest of places, the local and state government. So much so that he said, he was the law in Indiana. So when he kidnapped, assaults', then leads to the death of a local young woman, he believes that he can get away with it. I really enjoyed this book, the writing is excellent, the story is riveting, and intense. Egan does done great research into this story and all the people who were involved in it and has great notes in the back of the book. If you are a true crime reader or someone who likes historical books, then you should this book. 

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.