The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan
Right-Wing Movements and National Politics
Rediscovering the Ku Klux Klan as a national movement in the 1920s
248 Pages, 6 x 9 in
- Paperback
- 9780816656202
- Published: May 6, 2009
- Series: Social Movements, Protest and Contention
- eBook
- 9781452914275
- Published: May 6, 2009
- Series: Social Movements, Protest and Contention
Details
The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan
Right-Wing Movements and National Politics
Series: Social Movements, Protest and Contention
ISBN: 9780816656202
Publication date: May 6th, 2009
248 Pages
9 x 6
In The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan, Rory McVeigh provides a revealing analysis of the broad social agenda of 1920s-era KKK, showing that although the organization continued to promote white supremacy, it also addressed a surprisingly wide range of social and economic issues, targeting immigrants and, particularly, Catholics, as well as African Americans, as dangers to American society. In sharp contrast to earlier studies of the KKK, which focus on the local or regional level, McVeigh treats the Klan as it saw itself—as a national organization concerned with national issues.
Drawing on extensive research into the Klan’s national publication, the Imperial Night-Hawk, he traces the ways in which Klan leaders interpreted national issues and how they attempted—and finally failed—to influence national politics.
More broadly, in detailing the Klan’s expansion in the early 1920s and its collapse by the end of the decade, McVeigh ultimately sheds light on the dynamics that fuel contemporary right-wing social movements that similarly blur the line between race, religion, and values.
Rory McVeigh is associate professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame.