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

A historical account of the Ku Klux Klan's rise to power during the 1920s, centered on D.C. Stephenson, a charismatic con man who became the Grand Dragon of the Klan, and Madge Oberholtzer, the woman whose testimony led to his downfall. While the 1920s are often remembered as the Jazz Age, the era was also marked by the height of the Klan's influence in America. Unlike their historical base in the South, the Klan's power during this period extended across the Heartland and West, targeting Black Americans, Jews, Catholics, and immigrants. Stephenson orchestrated a strategy that brought the group into mainstream society, gaining endorsements from churches, visibility at community events, and members among judges, prosecutors, ministers, governors, and senators. At the peak of his influence, Stephenson's cruelties were exposed by Oberholtzer, whose deathbed testimony ultimately brought down the organization. The book traces Stephenson's rise and the circumstances that led to the Klan's decline.