In Praise of the Ku Klux Klan. The Clansman (1903). A Book that Shaped American Thinking, Then and Maybe Even Now

Send us Fan MailLet's start with a Trigger Warning:  Not only am I going to tell you about this book, and about its impact on American society.  I am also going to read excerpts to you.  You will not find these passages easy to hear.  This is about Reconstruction in South Carolina where the author (Thomas Dixon Jr.) lived.  He was a prominent minister, actor, author, and local hero.  He was also a racist. But he was not unique.   He had a lot of fans.  His book sold 100,000 copies and the play he wrote on the story in the book was seen by perhaps a million people.  The film Birth of a Nation dramatized the story, and President Wilson showed it in the White House. There was resistance to this story, but there is no doubt the book was far more popular.  And its ideas persist:  the need to stifle the black vote, for example. Well, enough introduction.  Spend 30 minutes with this podcast and you will understand some things you had not understood before.