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I just can't help comparing this with Bartoletti's incredible Hitler Youth (which I wanted to wave around and make everyone read). It's a good book, but not as amazing as that; I thought it lacked focus, and was, perhaps, a bit tentative about its subject. It's easy enough to humanize the victims of the KKK, but Bartoletti makes little attempt to make the KKK members themselves seem like real people. Perhaps I was expecting more of this because I've heard a few objections to having the book in s
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Recommended Ages: grades 6-10
Boys, let us get up a club. With those words, six restless young men raided the linens at a friend’s mansion, pulled pillowcases over their heads, hopped on horses, and cavorted through the streets of Pulaski, Tennessee. The six friends named their club the Ku Klux Klan, and, all too quickly, their club grew into the self-proclaimed Invisible Empire with secret dens spread across the South.
This is the story of how a secret terrorist group took root in America’s demo ...more
Boys, let us get up a club. With those words, six restless young men raided the linens at a friend’s mansion, pulled pillowcases over their heads, hopped on horses, and cavorted through the streets of Pulaski, Tennessee. The six friends named their club the Ku Klux Klan, and, all too quickly, their club grew into the self-proclaimed Invisible Empire with secret dens spread across the South.
This is the story of how a secret terrorist group took root in America’s demo ...more
Very well written account of a dark time in American history. I think the author's use of the phrase "The Birth of an American Terrorist Group" as a subtitle was very brave and very accurate. The fact that the KKK is still active today and that ignorance and prejudice against other races and nationalities is still causing problems underscores the need for teens to read a book like this one.
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It's definitely an impressive work of scholarship, but I didn't find it quite as gripping as her Hitler Youth from a few years ago, and I thought it was interesting that she left the story of her visit with a contemporary Klan group until the very, very end of the back matter. I can respect that she left it out of the main book, since it's not really within the scope of the book, but I wonder if any more casual reader would ever find it, stuck in after her extensive bibliography?
The writing is ...more
The writing is ...more
The knowledge I started out with before I read this book was of the KKK during the 20th century. I did not realize that it started shortly after the Civil War until reading this book. That being said, the book did not keep my interest and I did not finish it.
I learned from this book, since I really didn't know the origins of the KKK. It was well-done and clearly presented, but not really to my taste. Glad I read it, however.
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3.5 stars
Feb 15, 2010
Dana
marked it as to-read
Sep 01, 2010
Karyn The Pirate
marked it as to-read
Sep 23, 2010
alisonwonderland (Alison)
marked it as to-read
Dec 26, 2010
Jodi
marked it as to-read
Dec 30, 2010
Kathryn
marked it as to-read
Jan 25, 2011
Jennifer
marked it as to-read
Mar 28, 2011
Whitney
marked it as to-read
Sep 25, 2011
Laura5
marked it as to-read
Feb 02, 2013
Annisha Jeffries
marked it as to-read
