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2.51k reviews for:
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
Timothy Egan
4.34 AVERAGE
2.51k reviews for:
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
Timothy Egan
4.34 AVERAGE
dark
informative
medium-paced
emotional
informative
slow-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia
informative
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dark
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fast-paced
challenging
dark
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medium-paced
Lord, have mercy- probably one of the most important books I’ll have read this year. The parallels between that time and now would stop me in my tracks.
This book did make me physically nauseous at times. Occasionally, I would question why Egan gave us as much graphic detail as he did. But I think the way he brought it home shed light on that- this is a book about telling truths that we as a country (and particularly as a Midwest) like to turn our back on. We want to be the heroes, we want to point to that genuinely brilliant day in court that brought an invisible, hate-filled empire to its knees. We don’t want to be complicit in everything that led up to that day in court. Egan does not let us shy away from the horrors of our past.
This book did make me physically nauseous at times. Occasionally, I would question why Egan gave us as much graphic detail as he did. But I think the way he brought it home shed light on that- this is a book about telling truths that we as a country (and particularly as a Midwest) like to turn our back on. We want to be the heroes, we want to point to that genuinely brilliant day in court that brought an invisible, hate-filled empire to its knees. We don’t want to be complicit in everything that led up to that day in court. Egan does not let us shy away from the horrors of our past.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Stalking, Pregnancy
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
challenging
informative
tense
fast-paced
I think everyone should read this book, especially if they live in Indiana like I do. I have lived in Indiana since I was a child, and this book was a litany of towns that I have lived in or been to: Indianapolis, Noblesville, Muncie, Evansville, South Bend, Bloomington. These towns and this state contained the few and far between heroes and virtuous people as well as the near omnipresent bigots. The book returned frequently to the idea of “how did this happen?” Which is a thought that has crossed my mind many times over the past decade as I have struggled to reconcile the state that raised me with the current state of affairs. This book really helped contextualize it for me in a very haunting way. I also could not help but wonder why I, as a Hoosier, had been taught so much about my towns participation in the Underground Railroad but nothing about the penetration of the KKK into that same town mere decades later. I know the answer, but it was jarring to realize how much simply hadn’t been taught to me as a young student attending a public school in Indiana. This is why it is so important to read widely and be an active student of history, even well after graduating. This book also unexpectedly left me with some seeds of hope- the hatred and cultural factors that led to the fever in the heartland a 100 years ago did not go away, but they did retreat. What would have seemed unstoppable in 1924 nearly didn’t exist in 1928. If the parallels are there in terms of degree and flavor of hatred and the personalities of the bigots in charge, then hopefully the parallels can be there in the transient nature of their power. I also am impressed that the reason why I read this book is that a book club located in Muncie Indiana chose it for this month’s book. There are people in Indiana who remember, and who can hopefully can carry on the work needed to ensure that the crossroads of American is known as a hospitable, welcoming state committed to liberty and justice for all.
challenging
informative
sad
medium-paced