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A review by archifydd
Gospel According to the Klan: The Kkk's Appeal to Protestant America, 1915-1930 by Kelly J. Baker
4.0
Fascinating. Baker argues that the second iteration of the Klan was not exceptional, but representative of certain swaths of 1920s American culture. One of the things that really jumped out at me is the similarity between the rhetoric of the 1920s Klan and the 1920s DAR. Some of it was so familiar that I want to check to see if they were publishing some of the same nationalist writers.
My only quibble is that I have more unanswered questions about how the Klan developed their theology of white nationalism. Did they come up with these concepts through a practice of "common sense" bible reading, or were they adapting theological models that their leaders had learned through more formal study. A number of Klansmen identified themselves as ministers, but its not clear which denomination they belonged to, how and if they were educated etc - I would have found the answers to those questions very interesting.
My only quibble is that I have more unanswered questions about how the Klan developed their theology of white nationalism. Did they come up with these concepts through a practice of "common sense" bible reading, or were they adapting theological models that their leaders had learned through more formal study. A number of Klansmen identified themselves as ministers, but its not clear which denomination they belonged to, how and if they were educated etc - I would have found the answers to those questions very interesting.