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A Fever in the Heartland
The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
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Wait time: About 3 weeks
A historical thriller by the Pulitzer and National Book Award-winning author that tells the riveting story of the Klan's rise to power in the 1920s, the cunning con man who drove that rise, and the woman who stopped them.
The Roaring Twenties—the Jazz Age—has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants in equal measure, and took radical steps to keep these people from the American promise. And the man who set in motion their takeover of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D.C. Stephenson.
Stephenson was a magnetic presence whose life story changed with every telling. Within two years of his arrival in Indiana, he’d become the Grand Dragon of the state and the architect of the strategy that brought the group out of the shadows – their message endorsed from the pulpits of local churches, spread at family picnics and town celebrations. Judges, prosecutors, ministers, governors and senators across the country all proudly proclaimed their membership. But at the peak of his influence, it was a seemingly powerless woman – Madge Oberholtzer – who would reveal his secret cruelties, and whose deathbed testimony finally brought the Klan to their knees.
A FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND marries a propulsive drama to a powerful and page-turning reckoning with one of the darkest threads in American history.
Photo courtesy of The Indiana Album: Evan Finch Collection.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
April 4, 2023 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593670675
- File size: 302182 KB
- Duration: 10:29:32
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from February 13, 2023
The shocking story of how Ku Klux Klan leader David C. Stephenson seized and lost control of the state of Indiana in the 1920s is told in Pulitzer winner Egan’s evocative latest (after A Pilgrimage to Eternity). An itinerant newspaperman and petty criminal, Stephenson took charge of Klan recruiting efforts across the Midwest and was named Grand Dragon of the Realm of Indiana in 1923. Buoyed by skyrocketing enrollment numbers—by 1925, “one in three native-born white males wore the sheets,” Egan writes—Stephenson effectively ran Indiana, controlling the governor, both houses of the state legislature, and a private police force of 30,000 men, which he utilized to “harass violators of Klan-certified virtue.” Though journalists and others sought to counteract the Klan’s influence, Stephenson’s power remained unchecked until he kidnapped and raped a Department of Public Instruction employee named Madge Oberholtzer in 1925. During the incident, Oberholtzer dosed herself with bichloride of mercury; she died an agonizingly slow death 29 days later, but not before she dictated a full account of Stephenson’s crimes. Convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, Stephenson became a symbol of the Klan’s cruelty, hypocrisy, and corruption, and the organization’s grip on Midwestern politics crumbled. Dramatic twists of fate and vivid character sketches distinguish this harrowing look at a forgotten chapter of American history. It’s a certifiable page-turner. -
There's a reason why Timothy Egan is a Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporter and author of numerous bestsellers. He knows how to find an interesting story and tell it well. The rise and fall of the Ku Klux Klan in the American Heartland of the 1920s is one of those true-life dramas that history seems to have forgotten. Fortunately, Egan brings his rigorous journalistic chops to this fascinating story. As a narrator, Egan has enough material to work with--including the violent, racist con man D.C. Stephenson and the woman who brought him down, Madge Oberholtzer--to keep listeners engaged. This is the story of a sad and disturbing part of American history. It is an important listen that informs and engages. J.P.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from July 1, 2023
National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Egan (The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl) presents his impeccably researched history of the Indiana Ku Klux Klan's rise to power in the 1920s. Egan focuses his work on David C. Stephenson, an eighth-grade dropout from Texas who became the most powerful political figure in Indiana as the Klan's Grand Dragon. Stephenson's Klan ultimately included half a million followers supported by his private police force of 30,000 men. With the help of politicians, ministers, judges, and law enforcement, the Indiana Klan sustained attacks against Black Americans, Jews, Catholics, and immigrants. Stephenson's downfall occurred in 1925 when he was convicted of the abduction, savage rape, and murder of Indiana lending-library manager Madge Oberholtzer, whose deathbed testimony led to Stephenson's disgrace. Court evidence, oral records, autobiographies, letters, diaries, and newspaper quotes document Egan's gripping story. Egan narrates his book with a steady, even tone, implacably moving the story forward as he relates the sordid details. VERDICT This superb author-narrated work illuminates a terrifying and chillingly relevant time in U.S. history. An essential purchase for all libraries.--Dale Farris
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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