A Fever in the Heartland ⭐⭐⭐

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


G👀dreads About Summary

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.

Genre: Nonfiction, History, True Crime Politics, American History 

The How/Why: My book club's BotM for August

⭐⭐⭐ Average rating because it was well researched, not based on my overall dislike of the topic. I *DO* enjoy True Crime but don't think the graphic T0rturɇ descriptions are necessary. Sometimes I think they are added for shock value. 

🎉 Overall Storytelling? 1st half reads like a history book, 2nd half reads like graphic true crime. Unable to rate storytelling just because I didn't like it. 

🎣 Did it grab and keep my attention? Yes and No. Same as above. 

🗣️Would I recommend it to anyone? Maybe 🤷 If you want to read a history book followed by a detailed true crime T0rturɇ story. 

🕮 Would I want a sequel? No ➖ 

📚 Would I want to read more books by this author? No ➖

💣💥 📢 Content Warnings? Sɇxuɐl Assɐult and Rąpɇ, Physical Vi0lɇncɇ and T0rturɇ***, SȖicidɇ, Hɐtɇ Spɇɇch, Rɐci$m and Big0trɎ, Alc0h0l and Druᵷ Abusɇ.
***Librarian Google says the Vi0lɇncɇ and T0rturɇ is very graphic.
Update: LG was not kidding! 

🌶 Spice? No

🌪 Plot Twist? No

👟 Pace? Average

💻 Tidbits ~ You knew this wouldn't be my favorite, didn't you?

The first half of the book: Timothy Egan does a good job highlighting an often overlooked chapter in American history. The rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s is a significant part of our history.

The second half of the book: Madge Oberholtzer’s tragic kidnapping and brutal assault which led to her deathbed testimony, crediting her as “The Woman Who Stopped Them.”

I feel the last part of the title is misleading. “The Woman Who Stopped Them” made it sound like she was out on the front lines taking them down one-by-one. That was not the case. She made a tragic sacrifice by securing poison to end her life to force a murder trial. Her deathbed testimony provided the opening for the investigative journalist, local prosecutor, and targeted Black, Catholic, and Jewish communities to take down the Hɐtɇ group.

Personally I had a very difficult time getting through the second half of the book. It shifted from political history to a graphic true crime drama detailing the horrific circumstances Oberholtzer had to endure. The details of her T0rturɇ made it hard for me to get through. The only reason I didn't DNF it was because I wanted to see how she took down the KKK. Next time I'll bow out and just ask Librarian Google for the spoilers. 
I know it doesn’t bother some readers but I typically steer clear of T0rturɇ and h0rr0r.

🎧 Narrator: Timothy Egan - reads like the history professor at the head of the class.

🎧10.0 hours (Libby) 🕮 432 pages

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