Non­fic­tion

Ten Dol­lars to Hate

  • From the Publisher
May 16, 2017

This book is a new his­to­ry of the 1920s Ku Klux Klan, the only mass-move­ment ver­sion of the Klan, with mil­lions of mem­bers through­out the US, not just in the for­mer Con­fed­er­a­cy. Much of the focus is on this Klan’s ani­mus towards Jews, Catholics and immi­grants, as well as blacks. The book dis­cuss­es Klan pro­pa­gan­da against Jews: Jews were said to be too clan­nish” to be assim­i­lat­ed into Amer­i­can life, and were blamed for the new scan­dalous” music, dances and movies of the Jazz Age. The Klan caused some Jew­ish mem­bers of local gov­ern­ment to be fired and led cam­paigns to boy­cott Jew­ish stores. The book also cel­e­brates Jew­ish resis­tance, from hero­ic Texas Rab­bis Rosinger, Cohen and Lefkowitz, to a coura­geous Jew­ish leg­is­la­tor in Louisiana, to a tiny immi­grant woman in Goose Creek, Texas, who brained a klans­man with a fry­ing pan and knocked him out. The klans­man filed charges. When she was acquit­ted, the judge said he wished he could not only find her not guilty” but could give her a medal.

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