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A review by oumaima_mekni
They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
5.0
Who could've thought that an inside club made only by six men in a deserted old house, would turn out to be a feared local mob that claim to defend the 'lost rights' of the southerners after their loss in the civil war, to wind up being one of the largest and notorious terrorist group in the history of America.
I applause Susan Campbell Bartoletti for this rich and well-resourced documentation of The Klan that covered it since the early days of the American Civil War outbreak until recent years, and providing the two sides of the story while remaining fairly unbiased.
Yet, I can't imagine how awfully uncomfortable Susan felt while collecting information about this atrocious group and its awful crimes against Black people. As a reader, I was horrified at the length the Klan would go just to prove their power and supremacy,
"Jim had fought for his life; how he had pleaded and prayed; how, with the rope around his neck, he scrambled up the tall pine out of reach; how a Klansman climbed up after him and pushed him, and when Jim clung to the thick limb, the Klansman hacked at his fingers with a knife, forcing Jim to drop."
So I can scarcely imagine the mental and emotional state the author went through while documenting these stories, especially as the hatred of the Klan transgressed the African Americans and it included everyone who opposed their doctrines, regardless of their race, gender, religion, etc...
I applause Susan Campbell Bartoletti for this rich and well-resourced documentation of The Klan that covered it since the early days of the American Civil War outbreak until recent years, and providing the two sides of the story while remaining fairly unbiased.
Yet, I can't imagine how awfully uncomfortable Susan felt while collecting information about this atrocious group and its awful crimes against Black people. As a reader, I was horrified at the length the Klan would go just to prove their power and supremacy,
"Jim had fought for his life; how he had pleaded and prayed; how, with the rope around his neck, he scrambled up the tall pine out of reach; how a Klansman climbed up after him and pushed him, and when Jim clung to the thick limb, the Klansman hacked at his fingers with a knife, forcing Jim to drop."
So I can scarcely imagine the mental and emotional state the author went through while documenting these stories, especially as the hatred of the Klan transgressed the African Americans and it included everyone who opposed their doctrines, regardless of their race, gender, religion, etc...