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A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them Audiobook
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A true-crime thriller by the Pulitzer and National Book Award-winning author that tells the riveting story of the Ku Klux Klan's rise to power in the 1920s, the cunning con man who drove that rise, and the woman who stopped them
The Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age, has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West.
They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics, and immigrants in equal measure, and took radical steps to keep these people from the American promise. And the man who set in motion their takeover of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D. C. Stephenson.
Stephenson was a magnetic presence whose life story changed with every telling. Within two years of his arrival in Indiana, he had become the KKK’s Grand Dragon of the state and the architect of the strategy that brought the group out of the shadows—their message endorsed from the pulpits of local churches, spread at family picnics and town celebrations.
Judges, prosecutors, ministers, governors and senators across the country all proudly proclaimed their membership. But at the peak of his influence, it was a seemingly powerless woman, Madge Oberholtzer, who would reveal his secret cruelties and whose deathbed testimony finally brought the Klan to their knees.
A Fever in the Heartland combines a propulsive drama and a powerful, page-turning reckoning with one of the darkest threads in American history.
Photo courtesy of The Indiana Album: Evan Finch Collection.
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“Exposes a 1920s American political scene filled with characters and themes that resonate today…Offers profound insights to readers willing to peer into layers of American hypocrisy, intolerance, malignant indifference, and public culpability.”
— Library Journal (starred review)
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“Riveting…Egan is a brilliant researcher and lucid writer.”
— Minneapolis Star Tribune -
“[A] page-turner of narrative nonfiction.”
— Amazon.com -
“One of those true-life dramas that history seems to have forgotten. Fortunately, Egan brings his rigorous journalistic chops to this fascinating story…It is an important listen that informs and engages.”
— AudioFile -
“Riveting history…undeniably chilling. An excellently rendered, unsettling narrative of America at its worst.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -
“Dramatic twists of fate and vivid character sketches distinguish this harrowing look at a forgotten chapter of American history. It’s a certifiable page-turner.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“Terrifyingly relevant.”
— Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author -
“Shines a light on one of the most sinister chapters in American history.”
— David Grann, # 1 New York Times bestselling author -
“The influence they wielded over states and policy should put a chill in every American.”
— Ken Burns, filmmaker and New York Times bestselling author
Awards
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A New York Times bestseller
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A #1 Amazon bestseller in US History
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A Barnes & Noble bestseller
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A Washington Post Notable Book of 2023
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A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
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A Chicago Review of Books Pick of 2023's Best Books
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A NPR Best Book of the Year
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One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2023
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A Library Journal Best Book of 2023
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A BookPage Best Book of the Year
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A Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Year
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An Amazon Best Books of the Year Pick in History
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An ALA Notable Book of 2023
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Winner of the Anthony Award for Nonfiction
A Fever in the Heartland Listener Reviews
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Bette Sill, 7/14/2024
About Timothy Egan
Timothy Egan is a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter and the author of nine other books, including three New York Times bestsellers. His account of photographer Edward Curtis, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, won the Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction. His book on the Dust Bowl, The Worst Hard Time, won a National Book Award for Excellence in Nonfiction and was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Washington State Book Award winner, and a Book Sense Book of the Year Honor Book.