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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4.6 • 347 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A Washington Post Notable Work of Nonfiction • An NPR Best Book of the Year • A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year • A Chicago Review of Books Best Book of the Year • A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year • A Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist
"With narrative elan, Egan gives us a riveting saga of how a predatory con man became one of the most powerful people in 1920s America, Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, with a plan to rule the country—and how a grisly murder of a woman brought him down. Compelling and chillingly resonant with our own time." —Erik Larson, author of The Splendid and the Vile
“Riveting…Egan is a brilliant researcher and lucid writer.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A Fever in the Heartland is a true David-and-Goliath story about one brave woman who took down the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana. Timothy Egan’s stellar work of nonfiction traces the rise of David C. Stephenson, who led the Klan in the Midwest following the tumult of World War I. And it introduces us to Madge Oberholtzer, a government worker and victim of Stephenson’s violence, who courageously gave the testimony that ended his reign of terror. Egan’s writing is gripping and evocative as he describes the terrifying power the Klan amassed across America in the 1920s, going so far as to push ideologies like eugenics and forced sterilizations into law. Even more memorable, though, is the way Egan highlights the humanity of the story’s incredible real-life heroine. We will never forget the name Madge Oberholtzer—and we’ll be telling all our friends to read this fascinating history book.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
Customer Reviews
Not Just in the South
Timothy Egan did his homework. Readers learn about the history of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana and surrounding states. We learn the name of DC Stephenson, an unscrupulous Klan leader who gained control of government and social institutions by spreading fear and hate. It’s worth the read.
Excellent
Well written. This side of human nature must be revealed for what it is then and now.
Indiana native.
I live in Indiana. This was eye opening and at times shocking. I am so glad I read this and have been recommending it everyone.