Preface to the 2009 Edition
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I. THE KLAN AND WOMANHOOD
1. Organizing 100% American Women
2. Womanhood and the Klan Fraternity
3. Battling the Seductive Allurements
PART II. WOMEN IN THE KLAN
4. Joining the Ladies' Organization
5. A Poison Squad of Whispering Women
6. 100% Cooperation: Political Culture in the Klan
Epilogue
Notes
A Postscript on Sources
Index
Kathleen M. Blee is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh.
Probably no future history of the Ku Klux Klan will be written without reference to this ground-breaking work. In its first incarnation (1865-1872) the KKK was all-male, the instrument of ``violent masculinity protecting vulnerable femininity.'' Soon after it was revived in 1915, women, already active in the temperance and suffragist movements, began forming groups with Klan-like tenets; in 1923 these groups developed into the Women of the Ku Klux Klan (WKKK), which lasted until the Depression and enrolled hundreds of thousands of recruits. Blee, an associate dean at the University of Kentucky, shows that while membership in the WKKK was limited to native-born, white Protestants, it was actually far from monolithic. It embraced many right-wing conservatives, but also included liberals, even socialists. All were prejudiced against Catholics, Jews, blacks and the foreign-born. Significantly, the WKKK was never a ``ladies' auxiliary'' of the male Klan. Members pursued their own agendas, whether their goals were merely social or involved militant battling for women's rights. The work will prove a revelation to many. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.)
Blee, a sociology professor, has written a fascinating and disturbing book about the women of the Ku Klux Klan (WKKK) in the 1920s. In Part 1, she examines the historical, cultural, and symbolic contexts of the Klan in the United States. In Part 2, she looks at activities of the women's Klan in Indiana and gives biographical sketches of some of the more prominent women in the Indiana WKKK. Through her extensive research, including interviews with surviving WKKK members, examining seized Klan documents, and reading local newspapers, Blee found that for many women the WKKK offered a logical place for them to express political views while also providing a home of like-minded females who shared social and moral concerns. While many books have been written about the history of the Ku Klux Klan, this is the first to focus on women. An important work which should be purchased by larger public and research libraries. Highly recommended. (Illustrations and index not seen.)-- Cindy Faries, Pennsylvania State Univ. Lib., University Park
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