Book & podcast collection

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them

byTimothy Egan

Timothy Egan tells how the Ku Klux Klan became a mass political force in 1920s Indiana under the charismatic fraudster D. C. Stephenson. The organization recruited ordinary white Protestants, controlled officials, and spread through appeals to racism, nativism, religion, and moral reform. Stephenson's power began to collapse after his brutal assault on Madge Oberholtzer, whose dying testimony exposed him. The book combines political history with true-crime narrative, showing how democratic institutions can be captured by organized hatred and how one woman's courage helped break a movement that appeared untouchable.

Publisher

Penguin Publishing Group

Publication date

2023

Format

Print edition

Pages

—

ISBN

9780735225268