Historian publishes shocking new book on the rise and fall of the Ku Klux Klan

1 day ago
Andrew Merrington



A powerful new history book that seeks to demystify the notorious Ku Klux Klan has been published by an expert in modern American society at the University of Exeter.



The Full History of the Ku Klux Klan has been written by Professor Kristofer Allerfeldt and charts the lifespan of the KKK, from its foundation in 1865 and campaign of violence in opposition to post Civil War Reconstruction; to its resurrection in the 1960s in response to the civil rights movement and ultimate decline in the modern era.

Published by The History Press, the 430-page book contains grisly details of the Klan’s violent activities as well as uncensored excerpts of some of the racist language they used.

Professor Allerfeldt, of the Department of Archaeology and History, is a specialist on the period that spanned the end of the Civil War to the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

“The Klan is a truly horrible organisation, and nothing should diminish how revolting it is,” he says. “From their sinister attire to their burning crosses, the iconography that surrounds them taps into a deep-held desire that demands that our enemies be truly terrifying. And to some extent, this has fuelled their notoriety and kept them in the public consciousness in relation to racially motivated hate crime even though the reality is that they have been replaced by more disparate far right and white supremacist groups.”

More:
https://news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-humanities-arts-and-social-sciences/historian-publishes-shocking-new-book-on-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-ku-klux-klan/