They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Paperback, 9780544225824 | Buy online at The Nile
Departments
 Free Returns*

They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group

The Birth of an American Terrorist Group

Author: Susan Campbell Bartoletti  

Filled with chilling and vivid personal accounts unearthed from oral histories, congressional documents, and diaries, this account from a Newbery Honor-winning author traces the origins of the Ku Klux Klan. A YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist.

Read more
Product Unavailable

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Summary

Filled with chilling and vivid personal accounts unearthed from oral histories, congressional documents, and diaries, this account from a Newbery Honor-winning author traces the origins of the Ku Klux Klan. A YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist.

Read more

Description

Boys, let us get up a club.With those words, six restless young men raided the linens at a friend's mansion, pulled pillowcases over their heads, hopped on horses, and cavorted through the streets of Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866. The six friends named their club the Ku Klux Klan, and, all too quickly, their club grew into the self-proclaimed Invisible Empire with secret dens spread across the South.This is the story of how a secret terrorist group took root in America's democracy. Filled with chilling and vivid personal accounts unearthed from oral histories, congressional documents, and diaries, this account from Newbery Honor-winning author Susan Campbell Bartoletti is a book to read and remember. A YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist.

Read more

Critic Reviews

"Balancing the stories of the Klan and the formerslaves' determination to remake their lives, Bartoletti makes extensive use of congressional testimony, interviews, journals, diaries and slave narratives to allow the players to speak in their own voices as much as possible...An exemplar of history writing and a must for libraries and classrooms."-- Kirkus Reviews , starred review "Bartoletti follows multi-award-winning titles such as Hitler Youth (2005) with another standout contribution to youth history shelves...It's the numerous first-person quotes, though, that give the book its beating heart, and her searing, expertly selected stories of people on all sides of the violent conflicts will give readers a larger understanding of the conditions that incubated theKlan's terrorism; how profoundly the freed people and their sympathizers suffered; and how the legacy of that fear, racism, and brutality runs through our own time."-- Booklist , starred review "Copious photos, engravings, and illustrations provide a hard-hitting graphic component to this illuminating book. And while Bartoletti notes that contemporary 'hate groups wield none of the power or prestige that the Ku Klux Klan held in earlier years,' her account of attending a Klan meeting while researching the book is chilling to the core." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review "As in Hitler Youth (rev. 5/05), Bartoletti tackles a tough, grim subject with firmness and sensitivity...Period illustrations throughout make seeing believing, and the appended civil rights timeline, bibliography, and source notes are an education in themselves. Exemplary in scholarship, interpretation, and presentation."-- The Horn Book , starred review "Bartoletti effectively targets teens with her engaging and informative account that presents a well-structured inside look at the KKK, societal forces that spawn hate/terrorist groups, and the research process."-- School Library Journal , starred review”

"Balancing the stories of the Klan and the former slaves' determination to remake their lives, Bartoletti makes extensive use of congressional testimony, interviews, journals, diaries and slave narratives to allow the players to speak in their own voices as much as possible...An exemplar of history writing and a must for libraries and classrooms."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review "Bartoletti follows multi-award-winning titles such as Hitler Youth (2005) with another standout contribution to youth history shelves...It's the numerous first-person quotes, though, that give the book its beating heart, and her searing, expertly selected stories of people on all sides of the violent conflicts will give readers a larger understanding of the conditions that incubated the Klan's terrorism; how profoundly the freed people and their sympathizers suffered; and how the legacy of that fear, racism, and brutality runs through our own time."--Booklist, starred review "Copious photos, engravings, and illustrations provide a hard-hitting graphic component to this illuminating book. And while Bartoletti notes that contemporary 'hate groups wield none of the power or prestige that the Ku Klux Klan held in earlier years, ' her account of attending a Klan meeting while researching the book is chilling to the core." --Publishers Weekly, starred review "As in Hitler Youth, Bartoletti tackles a tough, grim subject with firmness and sensitivity...Period illustrations throughout make seeing believing, and the appended civil rights timeline, bibliography, and source notes are an education in themselves. Exemplary in scholarship, interpretation, and presentation."--The Horn Book, starred review "Bartoletti effectively targets teens with her engaging and informative account that presents a well-structured inside look at the KKK, societal forces that spawn hate/terrorist groups, and the research process."--School Library Journal, starred review --

Read more

About the Author

Susan Campbell Bartoletti pored over 8,027 pages of congressional testimony, 2,300 slave narratives, contemporaneous newspapers, and diaries. It is her hope that these stories told will stand in memorial to the great courage of the Klan victims and of all freed slaves and to the pivotal role they played in American history.

Read more

Product Details

Publisher
Harcourt Brace and Company
Published
10th June 2014
Pages
172
ISBN
9780544225824

Returns

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.

Product Unavailable