They Called Themselves the K.K.K.

More about the book

Set in post-Civil War America, the narrative explores the origins of the Ku Klux Klan, beginning with a group of young men who form a secret club in Pulaski, Tennessee. As their playful antics escalate, the group evolves into a notorious terrorist organization, the Invisible Empire, spreading fear across the South. Drawing from oral histories, diaries, and congressional documents, Susan Campbell Bartoletti provides a chilling account of how this group took root in American democracy, making it a significant and thought-provoking read.