The Klan's founding in 1866 Tennessee
Six ex-Confederate men in Pulaski, Tennessee formed a secret club that quickly became an organization of racial terror. Bartoletti traces the shift from prank society to violent movement.
They called themselves the K.K.K.
4 ideas
Terror as a tool to reverse Reconstruction
The Klan used night rides, whippings, and murder to suppress Black political power and enforce white supremacy after emancipation. Violence was a deliberate political strategy.
Ordinary neighbors carried out the terror
The book documents that neighbors, not distant villains, joined and enabled the Klan. It stresses how communities normalize atrocity.
Primary sources give voice to victims and members
Bartoletti builds the account from testimonies, photographs, and interviews of freedpeople and Klansmen alike. History is assembled from the words of those who lived it.