Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Each chapter in Sims's tour across the South interviewing and investigating top Klansmen is briefly updated in this second edition. There are obvious echoes of today's new militias in the seventies Klan rhetoric that she re-created verbatim (complete with phonetic renderings of Southern drawls). Minus the vicious black-hating, Jew-baiting venom, much of this Klan verbiage could beissuing from the mouths of today's militia leaders. . . . Especially telling is Sims's chapter on David Duke, then national director of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. . . . Sims also explores possible collusion between the Klan andthe federal government, which was ostensibly infiltrating it." The Nation
Synopsis
First published in 1978, The Klan is considered the best book on the grandfather of all extremist hate groups. Now, in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing and other domestic terrorist activities that are the legacy of Klan violence, it is more timely than ever. Realizing the continuing relevance of this book, Patsy Sims has revised it for the first time since its initial publication, adding a new preface and updating the individual chapters. An award-winning journalist, Sims drove more than 1,200 miles over the back roads of the South to begin this book. During two years of research and writing she talked, rallied, and kept in almost constant telephone contact with Klan leaders and members. The result was more than 150n hours of taped interviews revealing the personal experiences of the Klanspeople and their victims. These she wove together with history and contemporary news events for a riveting look inside the organization at the peak of it power.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 300-301) and index.