Hooded Americanism

Hooded Americanism: The First Century of the Ku Klux Klan: 1865 to the Present by David Chalmers records the history of the Ku Klux Klan quite bluntly, all the way from its creation following the civil war, to the early 1960’s. The author starts the book quite strongly by discussing in detail many acts of violence and displays of hatred throughout the United States. He makes a point to show that the Klan rode robustly throughout all of the country, not just in the southern states. The first several chapters of the book focus on the Klan’s creation in 1865. He goes on to discuss the attitude of many Americans following the United State’s Civil War and how the war shaped a new nation. The bulk of the book is used to go through many of the states, and express the Klan’s political influence on both the local and state governments. The author starts with Texas and Oklahoma, and goes through the history of the Klan geographically, finishing with New Jersey and Washington. The author stresses that the KKK did not just commit acts of violence towards minorities, but also carried political power. He continues to discuss the impact of the Klan on Civil Rights movements in the 1960’s, and various other important political controversies between the 1920’s and 1970’s. Towards the middle of the book, David M. Chalmers focuses on portraying the feelings of governments and state legislatures, as well as normal citizens towards the Klan. To do this more effectively, the author uses excerpts and quotes from editorials and newspapers, along with several dozen pictures. The conclusion of the book was used mainly as an overview of all of the major incidents and deaths involving the Klan, and how their persistence has allowed them to still exist today despite a lack of resources and support.

Hooded Americanism is a factual book, written with very little opinionated input from the author. It was clear that the David Chalmers wrote this book to inform people of the Klan and their history, not to share his own views. This book is a formal essay for several reasons. Most obviously, the author never uses “I”, “me”, or “my” throughout the whole book. The lack of personal emotion from the author leads to this book being very dry. Although the sentences in the book were clear cut without any unnecessary adjectives or emphasis, they were very long and included technical words. Since this book is mainly a summary of dates and facts, the passive voice is utilized to avoid repetition of words and titles. Hooded Americanism was very well-researched, and could be looked upon as more of a text-book than and novel that one would read for entertainment.

David Chalmers has written many books in the political science genre, but Hooded Americanism was the first book that he wrote that was meant to be a reference. Anyone that wants to travel into one of the darkest areas of our nation’s history would enjoy reading this book. Readers that want the facts and truth behind the Klan, and are not satisfied with only seeing the negative image that the media has portrayed of the Klan, should read this book. The book was clearly written for an adult audience. Towards the end of the book, David Chalmers goes into detail when describing various acts of violence that the KKK performed. For example, in chapter forty-five, the author describes floggings of African Americans, and burning of Jewish synagogues. Without these detailed accounts though, the author would have been unsuccessful in his purpose for writing. When reading, it became apparent that Chalmers wrote the book to inform the reader of the real purposes of the Ku Klux Klan, and to help clear up false representations. Through his presented research, the author was able to refute many of the accusations that the KKK faced throughout its strongest years, and still faces today. An example of a stereotype is that the Klan only impacted the South. The author quickly contests this by going through the states and displaying the roles of many Klan members in the community and government. More specifically, Mr. Chalmers shows that many governments in the mid-western states were ruled by the KKK. The author intended for Hooded Americanism to be used as a reference book, while also revealing the thoughts of Americans towards the Klan and their successes and failures in spreading its’ beliefs around the country.

Despite being a formal essay, the author expresses the information with an unintentional undertone. After reading only the first page, the author already shows signs of being pro-Klan. The second paragraph of the book is spent comparing the beliefs of the Ku Klux Klan to those of political or religious figures, suggesting that what they do is not unheard of and somewhat rational. Chalmers also states, “Not a single solitary reason has yet been advanced for putting the Ku Klux Klan out of business.”(Chalmers 1) This is looked upon as though the author has no rationale for disapproving of the Klan or any of its actions. The author describes the Klan as “persistent” (385) and “determined” (263), showing some positive qualities of the Klan. Also, when reading a book about such horrible, prejudice events the reader may expect to see the words “racist” or “extremist”, but in Hooded Americanism, none of those words will be found. In several places David Chalmers defends the Klan, claiming that hatred towards the Klan is unpatriotic. Throughout the book the author rarely negatively talks about the violence that the KKK committed, and in a few areas of the book even defends the Klan and their stance on issues. In spite of Chalmers attempts to keep Hooded Americanism strictly a resource, he lets his outlook towards the Klan slip through.

Hooded Americanism did not posses any qualities of a narrative. The information