A critically important revisionist history.
An award-winning historian digs into the heyday of the Ku Klux Klan.
Drawing on abundant archival sources, renowned American historian Bordewich offers a penetrating examination of the rise of the KKK, “the first organized terrorist movement in American history,” a paramilitary unit that arose in the vengeful South during Reconstruction. Engaging in murder, kidnapping, raping, castration, flogging, and burning, the Klan of the 1860s and 1870s bequeathed its sadistic tactics to later generations of white supremacists, such as the movement’s second wave in the early 20th century, incited in part by the release, in 1915, of the incendiary movie, The Birth of a Nation. With former Confederate officers at its helm and angry racists in its ranks, the Klan attacked not only Blacks, but also white sympathizers, including political officials. Until Ulysses Grant won the presidency in 1869, with Republicans taking both houses of Congress, there was no federal response to the atrocities. When Grant took office, “in nearly every southern state, the Klan was thriving,” targeting local office holders and community leaders, teachers, craftsmen, and former Union soldiers. Because the Klan aimed to put Democrats back in power, that political party did nothing to oppose the terrorist group whose shocking atrocities intensified with the passage of the 14th Amendment, which gave Blacks citizenship. Grant knew that ratification of the 15th Amendment, providing for the enfranchisement of freedman, would exacerbate the violence further. Although he had considered giving amnesty to former Confederates, intense opposition to that move came from southern states where Republican office holders testified to the Klan’s sadism. Instead, in 1871, Grant ordered the Army to take on the Klan. Aided by judges, prosecutors, and ordinary citizens, his war succeeded. By 1872, the Klan was in retreat. For Bordewich, Grant’s decisive move proved that “forceful political action can prevail over violent extremism.” Yet, as he makes clear in this significant work of scholarship, it did not stop the future systematic stripping away of Blacks’ civil rights.
A critically important revisionist history.Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9780593317815
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
