They Called Themselves The KKK

After reading many great fiction novels, I decided to venture into the realm of non-fiction. I found the information and the slave narratives in this book to be fascinating. However, I think that it would be difficult for a middle or high school student to read  the entire book. I think that this book would be a great supplement to a history textbook or to a novel in the English classroom. I would only take excerpts out from this book to give students to read in order to hold their interest level. I think that if I required for my students to read the entire book, many would quit halfway through or read sparingly. Even as I was enjoying this book, it was hard for me to feel excited about finishing this book. Some of the information became a little redundant.

What I did like about this book was it contained an element that I have seen in fictional novels I love reading. This book, while it contained factual information about American history, still left some things up to your interpretation. There were several instances where the author presented the opinions of blacks and poor white southerners in contrast with the opinions of the KKK members. The same was done with Democrats and Republicans, and for Northerners and Southerners. What I liked was as the reader, I was allowed to make up my mind on who to believe. The book did a good job of presenting information from both sides. It was not produced in a biased manner. It let both sides tell their story and allowed the reader to make their own opinions and judgments on the subject matter of America after the Civil War and in particular, on the KKK.