UNDER THE HOOD

For over 150 years, the Ku Klux Klan has terrorized, murdered, and corrupted American democracy. This meticulously researched true crime history names the perpetrators, documents their crimes, and exposes the systemic failures that allowed most to escape justice.

From Reconstruction to the present day, this book reveals:

• The First Klan (1865-1872): Nathan Bedford Forrest's reign of terror, the federal crackdown that temporarily destroyed the organization, and the transition to successor groups like the White League and Red Shirts
• The Second Klan (1915-1944): How a marketing campaign transformed the KKK into a four-million-member political machine that dominated state governments-and the D.C. Stephenson scandal that brought it crashing down
• The Civil Rights Era (1945-1980): The Birmingham church bombing, the Mississippi Burning murders, and the systematic campaign of assassination targeting civil rights leaders. Features detailed profiles of perpetrators including Robert Chambliss, Sam Bowers, Edgar Ray Killen, and Byron De La Beckwith
• Modern Fragmentation (1980-Present): David Duke's political ambitions, the civil lawsuits that bankrupted Klan organizations, and the movement's evolution into scattered online networks

This is not a sympathetic portrait or an academic abstraction. This is a factual account that identifies by name the men who bombed churches, murdered children, and assassinated activists-and documents how most lived free for decades while their victims' families waited for justice that rarely came.

Under the Hood provides the most comprehensive single-volume history of the Ku Klux Klan's violence and the inadequate legal responses that enabled it.

For readers of true crime, American history, and anyone seeking to understand how domestic terrorism operated with impunity for generations.

Includes organizational charts, timeline of major events, and detailed documentation of trials and convictions spanning 150 years.