Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction

by Fergus M. Bordewich

A stunning history of the first national anti-terrorist campaign waged on American soil—when Ulysses S. Grant wielded the power of the federal government to dismantle the KKK

The Ku Klux Klan, which celebrated historian Fergus Bordewich defines as “the first organized terrorist movement in American history,” rose from the ashes of the Civil War. At its peak in the early 1870s, the Klan boasted many tens of thousands of members, no small number of them landowners, lawmen, doctors, journalists, and churchmen, as well as future governors and congressmen. And their mission was to obliterate the muscular democratic power of newly emancipated Black Americans and their white allies, often by the most horrifying means imaginable.

To repel the virulent tidal wave of violence, President Ulysses S. Grant waged a two-term battle against both armed Southern enemies of Reconstruction and Northern politicians seduced by visions of postwar conciliation, testing the limits of the federal government in determining the extent of states’ rights. In this book, Bordewich transports us to the front lines, in the hamlets of the former Confederate States and in the marble corridors of Congress, reviving an unsung generation of grassroots Black leaders and key figures such as crusading Missouri senator Carl Schurz, who sacrificed the rights of Black Americans in the name of political “reform,” and the ruthless former slave trader and Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Klan War is a bold and bracing record of America’s past that reveals the bloody, Reconstruction-era roots of present-day battles to protect the ballot box and stamp out resurgent white supremacist ideologies.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Civil War, American History, Politics, Audiobook, Presidents

447 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2023

About the author

FERGUS M. BORDEWICH is the author of eight non-fiction books: "Congress at War: How Republican Reformers Fought the Civil War, Defied Lincoln, Ended Slavery, and Remade America"; "The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government" (awarded the Hardeman Prize in American History, in 2019); "America's Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas and the Compromise that Preserved the Union" (winner of the Los Angeles Times award for best history book, in 2013); "Washington: The Making of the American Capital" (named by the Washington Post as one f the best books of 2008); "Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America (named by the American Booksellers' Association as one of the ten best books of 2005)"; "My Mother’s Ghost," a memoir; "Killing the White Man’s Indian: Reinventing Native Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century"; and "Cathay: A Journey in Search of Old China." He has also published an illustrated children’s book, "Peach Blossom Spring" and has written the script for a PBS documentary about Thomas Jefferson, "Mr. Jefferson’s University." He also edited an photo-illustrated book of eyewitness accounts of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, "Children of the Dragon." He regularly reviews books for the Wall Street Journal. His articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times, TIME Magazine, American Heritage, Smithsonian Magazine, the Civil War Monitor, and many other publications. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Jean Parvin Bordewich.

BORDEWICH WAS BORN in New York City in 1947, and grew up in Yonkers, New York. While growing up, he often traveled to Indian reservations around the United States with his mother, LaVerne Madigan Bordewich, the executive director of the Association on American Indian Affairs, then the only independent advocacy organization for Native Americans. This early experience helped to shape his lifelong preoccupation with American history, the settlement of the continent, and issues of race, poverty, and political power. He holds degrees from the City College of New York and Columbia University. In the late 1960s, he did voter registration for the NAACP in the still-segregated South; he also worked as a roustabout in Alaska’s Arctic oil fields, a taxi driver in New York City, and a deckhand on a Norwegian freighter.

He has been an independent writer and historian since the early 1970s. As a journalist, he traveled extensively in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa, writing on politics, economic issues, culture, and history, on subjects including Islamic fundamentalism, the plight of the Kurds in northern Iraq, civil war in Burma, religious repression in China, Kenya’s population crisis, German Reunification, the peace settlement in Ireland, and other issues. He also served for brief periods as an editor and writer for the Tehran Journal in Iran, in 1972-1973, a press officer for the United Nations, and an advisor to the New China News Agency in Beijing, in 1982-1983, when that agency was embarking on its effort to move from a propaganda model toward a western-style journalistic one.

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sad but important book. Reconstruction is seen largely as a failure if not a total failure. This book focuses on the brutality of the Klan. Even though the Confederates lost the war, it could be argued they won the peace. The Ku Klux Klan was an organization that saw to it that freedmen were denied their rights. and brutalized these communities to "keep them in place." Whites that helped were also terrorized by the Klan. There was example in the book of one white woman who hid two black men from the Klan in her home. The Klan, unfortunately, found them and tortured the woman for protecting them. Bordewich provides many anecdotes about what happened to the victims of the Klan. President Grant took action against this terrorist organization with the help of Lewis Merrill and others. If Lincoln had lived and we had continued Grant's Reconstruction, I ask myself if the country would have been a better place. A book that was written in a captivating manner and well researched. I liked that Bordewich used primary sources to tell the story at times. I was depressed reading this book, but it made me admire Grant more than I already have.

[Wick Welker · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF 60%

I was waiting for the book to be about Grant fighting the KKK and it just didn't happen. This was just a disjointed narrative. Very interesting but I found it lacked cohesion to keep my attention which is a shame.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s important to remember that while I read this book very recently, I also endured a traumatic loss while still in the midst of it, and upon wrapping it up. That being said, this review should be rather succinct in comparison to most I write.

Bordewich does a remarkable job in painting the portrait of an unsuccessful, intensely violent post-Civil War Reconstruction era - an era meant to celebrate the victory of Union forces by bringing about emancipation, voting rights, and property ownership (among other liberties) to the black population in the deeply embittered South.

The former Confederate states - if they could even be called “former”, given Democrat/conservative attitudes toward racial superiority, slavery, and pro-segregation - had only intensified in the wake of the Republican Party’s sweeping progressive reforms, reforms which sought to bring about new racial equality which liberals had so staunchly supported since the start of the Civil War.

The Union Army may have won a decisive victory over the Confederacy on the battleground, but winning the war proved to be a far cry from successfully exacting the policies the victors sought to enforce. In fact, many of the defeated soldiers (politicians, police - the highest members of a society to its common citizens as well) may have been said to have simply swapped their military uniforms and for white cloaks and hoods.

This was the dawning of a new age of domestic terrorism on a grand scale in these former Confederate states, the likes of which had never been seen before. If Democrats couldn’t uphold the status quo under federal or state law - they would do so, unabashedly, through new campaigns of mass terror, generally accompanied by inexplicable violence.

By day, these groups of men were ordinary judges, police, farmers, merchants, and other townspeople: men who seemed mostly friendly; content to go about their daily business before retiring to their homes at night. Yet this was merely the impression they wanted their neighbors to believe. Instead of eating dinner and heading to bed, the men would instead head off into other towns, operating as bloodthirsty vigilantes. Their goal? To terrify the Republican politicians along with their voter base into submission.

The Ku Klux Klan, as these men came to be known, aimed to show progressives (especially blacks who attempted to exercise their newly acquired right to vote) the exact consequences of such actions. Blacks and whites alike, known or suspected to have voted the Republican ticket in these southern states could see plainly see the gruesome repercussions their fellow Republican voters had suffered: now, the KKK was asking, did they, along with their families, still see voting as important enough to potentially share in this same fate?

The vast majority of responses from voters? No. They did not. They were absolutely terrified by these lawless organizations employing ruthless intimidation tactics with complete impunity. President Ulysses Grant played an increasingly active role in deploying federal troops to protect these voters from their own local government.

The overreach of federal government into state law was largely controversial in these contentious times. While it was inspiring to read about the good and the brave making a stand, this was, unfortunately, the exception and not the rule.

Unfortunately, despite the government’s best efforts, the intimidation tactics and violence often continued unabated. While Grant certainly did his best to bring about more equality, in this era of white supremacy, the efforts were largely limited or unsuccessful after federal troops eventually withdrew.

Be warned that while this book may come across as rather academic and dry to some, it is nonetheless filled with many violent, detailed portrayals of murder and torture. While we can - at least for now - say the days of Klan violence and voter suppression are behind us, it’s certainly worth examining attempts at voter suppression happening in today’s world, while asking what dangers we currently face and how these threats can be overcome.

An important time in history to remember Reconstruction history, to learn from events of our past, in order to avoid a repeat of future assaults on American democracy. Rounded up to 4 1/2 stars.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most difficult books I’ve read, Klan War reads a little too much like current events in America. The injustice, political infection, and boldface untruths pervade again. Only the level of violence is missing, but I have little doubt that couldn’t be far behind, today.

But about the book: Fergus Bordewich pieces together the rise and fall of the Ku Klux Klan in the nineteenth century, though at every turn the reader finds hollow victories and empty scales of justice.

A confusing whirlwind of history is packed into this book, as racist terrorists are celebrated as heroes, and helpless victims decried as agitators and instigators. Murder and torture appear in every chapter, to the point where the reader may begin to tire of it much like Northern Republicans did as the years rolled on and the stories and complaints remained nearly the same.

President Grant led a fight as poorly financed and armed as George Washington had been against the Redcoats. For every arrest made there seemed to be two people pardoned, with charges dropped, or facing simply no resources with which to prosecute. The tiger was but a domesticated kitten. If prejudice, fear, hatred, and indifference weren’t enough to overcome, financial crisis and political scandal derailed a briefly hopeful immediate future for the recently-freed people.

Though few were ultimately punished appropriately for any crimes committed, Grant’s war against the Klan did succeed in breaking the organization apart. Or did the battle only drive the Klan away from lawlessness and into the law, itself?

A permanent scar on the United States, the rise of the KKK is a dark lesson that should be remembered with embarrassment and loathing, not mimicked in any way.

[Carol Storm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book on Grant and Reconstruction. Pulls no punches on the cruelty, cowardice and hypocrisy of the Southern people and their beloved Ku Klux Klan after the Civil War. The book shows what they did, why they did it, and how they got away with it. The racial atrocities in Louisiana and Mississippi are rendered in unforgettable detail, and are reminiscent of the worst crimes of Nazi Germany. The author does tend to make excuses for Grant and shift blame to other Republican leaders of the North. Wasn't it Harry Truman who said the buck stops here?

Ultimately the book rests on a contradictory reading of Grant's character. He's crushed with guilt over his failure to stop the Ku Klux Klan as president. But he barely mentions Reconstruction in his memoirs. And as soon as he's out of the White House he goes off on a two year World Tour, scamming souvenirs off every continent and partying with everyone from Czar Nicholas to Queen Victoria. Not the actions of a grief-stricken man. Or a very reflective man.

The book ends with a description of Grant's funeral, and Northern Blacks weeping at Grant's tomb on the upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Now when I was an undergraduate at Columbia forty years ago, Grant's Tomb was practically in walking distance. But no white undergraduate ever went up there, especially not alone, and most especially not after dark. Charismatic Columbia historians like Eric Foner could give brilliant lectures about the failure of Reconstruction, but they didn't have much to say about crime in New York City. None of them lived on campus. And they didn't have very much time or sympathy for undergraduates who were stupid enough to wander off campus and get mugged. Undergraduates were expected to keep their personal problems to themselves. The unwritten rule was stay on your side of the line or you'll get hurt. That went for Black and White off campus, but also for faculty and undergraduate students on College Walk. It was a lot like the Jim Crow South, actually. Except our professors never seemed to care. They were above the fray. They just sort of sneered at Ronald Reagan and expected us to laugh appreciatively.

Right on, Professor Foner. Right on!

Anyway, when it comes to Reconstruction the South failed. But the North has its failures too. This book is like that. As a history of Reconstruction it is superb. But as a character analysis of Grant it's a triumph of wishful thinking and sentimentality.

[Adam Carman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a big fan of PRESIDENT Ulysses S. Grant. As a kid I found myself gravitating towards Ulysses S. Grant as a hero of the Nation on par with Lincoln and Washington. This was despite the Lost Cause reading that said he was a lucky "butcher" of a general and a corrupt, incompetent President. I have been thrilled to witness his resuscitation. But I think his generalship was rescued first--there has always been, at least, a grudging admission that if nothing else, General Grant "understood the assignment." But now we're seeing people begin to recognize he was actually quite a capable President, especially as regards the rights of the formerly enslaved people.

This book is not an easy read. It is upsetting in the extreme as it explores the deep violence the Klan committed against African Americans. As a General, Grant had ought to extend the olive branch to the defeated South and even in the early days of Reconstruction sought to minimize the reports of violence against the former slaves, hoping that it would go away. Interestingly it was the German immigrant Carl Schurz who published a report documenting the rising violence. But as time wore on and evidence poured in, Schurz deserted the cause and became the champion of the status quo while Grant turned into a crusading Radical, intent on bringing down the Klan and achieving justice for ALL citizens. The point of this book is to give Grant credit for his war against the Klan so those wanting at least a cursory admission that he trusted corrupt people will no doubt be disappointed. Bordewich notes that at his death, Confederate and Union veterans alike honored him and nobody mentioned his role in crushing the first Ku Klux Klan or achieving passage of the 15th Amendment, no doubt to assuage the fragile egos of Lost Cause apologists who were busy insisting the noble South had never really lost the war and burying all trophies of the US victory.

This is a sad story. You know when it begins that it is ultimately going to fail. The good guys don't win. Injustice triumphs. But along the way there are heroes to admire. The General who saved the Union attempting to remake it in more equal fashion; the attorney general leading the charge; the soldiers who fought America's first homegrown terrorists, and above all the brave African-American men and women who risked it all for the right to vote. Grant couldn't have done it without them. As I read, despite Bordewich's professionalism that he's just telling the story, modern parallels kept popping up. When freedmen were baited into defending themselves and then framed for rioting and murder, I wrote, "Just comply." When people praised the Klan terrorists as upstanding gentlemen, I wrote, "They were tourists." The parallels to Donald Trump and his January 6th terrorists are manifold. This country has never been good to racial minorities or the poor. Hopefully a new generation can rise to the example set down by Ulysses S. Grant and many others. Let's hope Reconstruction finally succeeds.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t recall hearing much but a biased telling of Reconstruction for years. Recently, the story has been told but given the way things are going, you may have to rely on books like this.

After the Civil War, things were pretty good for the freed slaves. The title of Ta-Nehisi Coates book We Were Eight Years in Power is a reference not to Obama but post Civil War America.

This book gives an overview of that story. This is the story of the Ku Klux Klan- which started as a social group but by 1868 was starting to terrorize the South.

This is among the darkest periods of American history. It’s one thing that the Klan was a terrorist group which it was- organized in large numbers and vicious- and we are talking about all time terrible atrocities but the problem was that they were supported by politicians, businessmen and the press. It is painful to read about Democracy being so undermined and subverted.

What is interesting is that while it looked like the Klan’s terrorism was running rampant, President Ulysses Grant made a point to fight the Klan sending Federal Troops to protect the citizenry and bring Klan members to court. It has been mostly an untold story and an achievement of Grant’s that he was able to overcome what surely was long odds.

Bordewich balances a very readable book with it being well researched and studied. This book tells a necessary history lesson and shows how bad people (and good people under mob mindset) can easily subvert things.

The rub isn’t that Grant isn’t unsuccessful- he’s quite successful and basically eradicated the Klan, but that it’s unpopular. Grant declares victory but things won’t stay that way. The Republican Party is damaged. In the name of national unity, Reconstruction comes to end. But in that, the Klan is not a force of masked terrors anymore, the type of violence and oppression they brought is now open faced and codified by state and local governments.

Where a number of African Americans were able to be elected in the days after the Civil War, in the new environment, a much smaller margin of Freedman vote. In some countries, none vote at all. Former Confederate generals are honored and elected instead. This is the subverted South that would be in effect until the 1960s.

This is a good back and a very important chapter in the country’s history. It’s sad that under the right circumstances (as Bordewich postulates at the end), things would not have ended up this way- but instead the debate would be controlled by people who thought no action was needed for surely things would just work out on their own, and people like Horace Greeley who thought it best to get the ex Confederates their government control and of course the disputed election between Tilden and Hayes where the Republicans conceded Reconstruction efforts for the White House. An important history that has been twisted and the heroes made villains and the villains made out to be heroes.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book, though it took me forever to read. I knew effectively zero about Pres. Grant before reading this book, though it focuses mostly on the Klan and his and other Republicans' efforts to get rid of them. Basically after emancipation the Klan formed as an anti-Black, anti-Republican terrorist organization, and mostly aimed to undermine Republicans through use of barbaric, horrifying, and disgusting forms of violence against Black people, Republicans, anyone who might vote for Republicans. Grant's Enforcement Act and other efforts were up against a lot of challenges in trying to curb the violence and the to Klan's power because often judges, law enforcement--even people tasked with taking down the Klan-- were also members or sympathizers. It wasn't uncommon for people to be arrested for and charged with crimes, but largely evade any recourse, which set the stage for more race-based violence later on. Eventually by the early 1870s the Klan in name was mostly gone but the pattern of systemic racism and violence continued. There are a lot of parallels between circa 1870 and today, in particular issues related to voter suppression, racialized political rhetoric, and violence against people who have less power. What I found most interesting, maybe, was how it is clear that people at the time, just like today, are quite complicated. Some people shifted from being conservative or racist to progressive (Grant had, earlier in his life, owned slaves, but as President not only fought for racial equity but also appointed many Black men to positions of power in government), and others shifted the other way. We often assume that racist white people of 150 years ago were just a reflection of their time, but in fact society was just as ideologically diverse then as it is today. 

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those who have even a basic knowledge of Reconstruction know that the Civil War did not end with Lee's surrender at Appomattox. But I would guess few of us fully appreciate the barbarity and extent of the murder, torture, arson and lynching of Black men, women and children and their white allies that the KKK perpetrated with impunity over vast swathes of the South in the decade following Lee's surrender, all in the name of White Supremacy. Based on Congressional and judicial records, victims' testimony and other contemporary accounts, Bordewich chronicles the shocking and heart-rending story of these sinister years of America's history, how President Grant waged a successful, albeit temporary, battle in defense of the 14th and 15th Amendments, and how subsequent political indifference to the civil rights of Black citizens allowed the evil to emerge all over again. As Grant's Attorney General put it in 1874: "To persons who had not the strongest evidence of the facts, a history of the Ku Klux would be incredible." It may indeed be incredible, but it must never be forgotten.

[Ags · Rating 4 out of 5]

Came across this book originally in search of Bordewich's work on the Underground Railroad. This was a really interesting - and overwhelmingly sad, disgusting, and prescient - history of the federal government's need to and effort to quash the KKK in reconstruction. Really interesting angle on "state's rights," the damning role of ambivalent politicians, and an example of when top-down enforcement of civil rights is so necessary (and frustratingly complex). Loved this for the straightforward reporting. Really strong epilog tying this history to the present, ongoing violence and voter suppression in the US.

This was horror, and told largely from the perspective of white politicians. I understood that the descriptions of violence were necessary for the argument that the KKK is a terrorist organization, and the truly vile violence they systematically perpetrated. And, whew, that was tough to read. I was a bit surprised that Hayes' election was covered so quickly, and I wished there was a bit more POV from Black southerners, or more emphasis on Black reps in congress. But, again, I get that the purpose of this book was to focus on federal action (and inaction). Really interested in the South Carolina history, as I am new to SC!

Listened on audio, while driving and crafting: Amazing narration!

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Fascinating Look at Grant's Post-War Battles Against the Klan

Bordewich's 2023 book, Klan War, offers a detailed and compelling examination of Ulysses S. Grant's efforts to combat the Ku Klux Klan during the Reconstruction era.

Imagine this: groups of masked criminals wreaking havoc in communities, causing destruction and terror for political purposes. Local officials, including law enforcement, either participate or sympathize with these criminals, making arrests and convictions nearly impossible. The perpetrators deny any group affiliation, structure, or even acknowledgment of their existence.

Sound familiar? This isn't about modern-day Antifa or Black-bloc; it's about the Klan from 1865 to the 1870s. Bordewich's book traces the Klan's evolution from a "men's club" for disaffected Confederate veterans, complete with silly costumes and titles, into the Democratic Party's political terror arm.

A recurring theme in the narrative is the difficulty in identifying the Klan's members and structure. Its decentralized nature, coupled with the corruption and dishonesty of local officials, highlights the emptiness of oaths depending on who takes them.

The book recounts in grisly detail the horrors inflicted by various Klan groups on Blacks, Whites, and anyone considering voting Republican. Each acquittal or grand jury that fails to indict, along with dishonest court and witness statements, fuels the reader's frustration. The passage of the Enforcement Acts and the beginning of federal prosecution against the Klan provide a sense of righteous catharsis.

Grant's administration successfully nullified the Klan as a major political force until the early 20th century, when "Birth of a Nation" revisionism (thanks, Woodrow Wilson) revived it. This achievement is commendable yet somewhat depressing.

Overall, Klan War is a well-written, tightly paced, and thoroughly researched slice of Reconstruction-era history.

[Zach Payer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have like 40 pages left of this and it’s been such a chore to pick this up and read it, I want it to be over so badly. The title is misleading. Grants history and role makes up maybe 7% of the book.

Also going from the Nazis to the Klan is enough for me I need a Magic Tree House book next.

[Sohum · Rating 4 out of 5]

bit of a paean to grant such that I am not sure how much it can be swallowed uncritically, but reasonably useful for my purposes

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be required reading for every history-ignorant person who objects to Black liberation demands today by saying, "The Civil War was a long time ago. Get over it." Bordewich meticulously documents the Klan's terrorism and the collapse of Reconstruction reforms, all but erasing the North's victory in the Civil War with Southern white supremacists' revenge (tolerated, if not joined, by Northern whites). How easy it is to take away rights through brute force, a lesson we should remember today.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea how close to implosion the Post War Civil War Reconstruction. was. I had a hard time reading this very important book. Having grown up in Memphis Tennessee in the late 1950’s and 1960’s - Segregation still in force- I had no idea of the hardships the Black Community suffered.

[Austin Barselau · Rating 4 out of 5]

KLAN WAR is a popular history of how the racial terrorism of the Reconstruction-era South was beat back by vigorous federal action under President Ulysses Grant. Author Fergus M. Bordewich, an American writer, elucidates how Grant invigorated postwar order in the South by staunching out the hooliganism and vigilantism of the Ku Klux Klan, who sought to subvert trust in the government, deny freedmen the right to vote, and frustrate the goals of Reconstruction. Providing the leadership that Reconstruction sorely needed, Grant, with congressional backing, sent troops to enforce order and support the administration of all national elections. These troops were also used to shore up fragile new Republican governments in the South that were unable to defend themselves from opposition.

In his writing, Bordewich captures a Grant who was both emboldened in the righteous cause to enforce the Reconstruction amendments in the South but also harried by national divisions that complicated his aspirations for civil postwar order. The late-1860s and early-1870s was a period of marginal improvements in the wellbeing of Black Southerners, but which quickly eroded in subsequent years as the rest of the country proved unwilling to stomach more aggressive federal measures as they did under Grant’s presidency.

[Bryn D · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 Stars

Fascinating book about one of the saddest chapters in American history: Reconstruction (1865-1877) and the rise of the original Ku Klux Klan (as opposed to the early 20th century version we’re more familiar with). I never knew until now the extent of their infiltration of Southern society and civic life and just how horrible their crimes were until reading this. My heart genuinely hurt reading about what that generation of newly freed slaves endured at the hands of America’s first legit domestic terrorist organization and how their government still failed them even after the klan was all but crushed. I highly recommend this one. Interesting book, sad but necessary knowledge.

It would’ve been five stars had the author used the year in which many of the events took place instead of just the month and day. It was very annoying to wonder if we’re talking about 1871 or 1872 etc..

[Trevor Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I debated whether this is a 4- or 5-star book based primarily on Bordewich's frequent detailing of violence that sometimes felt indulgent and voyeuristic like some true crime tends to be. Ultimately, such descriptions are a necessary part of as near complete of a recounting of Reconstruction as anyone could provide, and to leave them out would be a disservice to the victims and to the reader. Having taught this era and knowing of the violence perpetrated against Blacks and white Republicans by former Confederates and white Southerners, even I was taken aback by the pervasiveness of that violence and the nonchalant attitudes of its perpetrators as Bordewich describes. This book is an important read for anyone who wishes to understand the roots of the United States's current struggle with racial equality and the role of violence in modern political discourse.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book! I've read a number of books on Grant but this is the best one about Reconstruction. If you want to understand why the country is so politically fucked up today, this book lays it all out. A must read.

[Mara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the title of this book is somewhat misleading, as Ulysses S. Grant is something of a minor character, there is a lot of information about the early KKK, and anyone interested in American History will find this book a worthwhile read. Grant was a strong proponent of civil rights, but he’s not really the focus of the book. Bordewich does justice to Grant, detailing legislation he championed in support of civil rights, as well as the judges and cabinet members he appointed who helped make his vision a reality.

And it was a reality. Sort of. For a little while. The reader learns about many of the new elected officials, many newly emancipated, in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, and the ways their activism pushed forward the civil rights agenda.

Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, there’s a backlash, and it is this that forms the bulk of this book. Alongside the stories of brave people who fought for equal rights are the stories of people who believed in both segregation and subjugation, and the violence they perpetrated in pursuit of their goals. There are numerous descriptions of lynchings, assaults, brutality, and cruelty as the KKK became more organized.

Readers will learn the many ways in which the KKK of the 1860s and 1870s was different from what we now think of the Klan, and may be surprised to find out the Klan was essentially dormant from the late 19th century until the early 1920s, at which point it was increasing immigration that provided the impetus for the resurrection of the Klan into what we know today.

Readalikes: The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America’s Most Progressive Era by Douglas R. Egerton
The Ordeal of the Reunion: A New History of Reconstruction by Mark Wahlgren Summers
Ecstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848-1877 by Brenda Wineapple

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 2016, three organizations—Public Policy Polling, YouGov, and The Economist—conducted surveys which found that 20% of voters thought ending slavery was a bad idea; higher numbers showed even more support for Japanese internment camps and the display of Confederate flags. More recently, the 14th Amendment—created in response to the South’s collective hostility to emancipation—long detested by pro-slavery backers—read “states’ rights” advocates—because the 14th Amendment promises equal protection under the law and prohibitions against insurrectionists (i.e., Confederates) from holding public office. If you’d like to see what could happen again in the U.S. when thugs got their way and the factors that then (and potentially still now) stopped (momentarily) their continuance, Fergus M. Bordewich’s well-researched, organized, and written account offers enough historical parallels between then and now to frighten any reader, even though Bordewich probably began outlining this book long before any historical likenesses to the present manifested themselves.

After the Civil War, federal troops moved into the former slave-holding states to maintain order while the state and local governments went about fulfilling requirements needed to permit their re-entry into the Union. Formerly wealthy slave holders—often holding top positions in state and local government as well as practicing such professions as medicine and law—resented their loss of free labor; thus, they encouraged, paid, or otherwise coerced white working-class men to beat, rape, castrate, torture, and kill freedmen and -women and the white folk who supported them (primarily Republicans of the day), allowing these wealthy men to get away with instigating murders. Not that these men had much to fear legally, anyhow. Local sheriff’s departments, and local and state judiciaries and legislative offices were often lead by avowed racists and—once it became a national organization—members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Federal troops found it difficult to prevent or punish lynchings and other physical and civic abuses since representatives of the states in which they occurred claimed that murder is not a federal-level crime and that states have sole claim to prosecuting them. The abuses Bordewich cites—often from the tens of thousands of pages of public testimony available in various federal archives—are repugnant and inexcusable. Page after page of much of this book reads like a catalog of human atrocities—atrocities many white men and women from all walks of life (save that of former slavery) endorsed and abetted without a second thought. It’s hard to come away from Klan War and see the issue of “states’ rights” as anything other than a ploy to debase the human rights of some despised group of people within a particular geographic boundary.

Andrew Jackson was no friend of human rights, let alone persons of color. While he was President, Southern states were able to abet the growth of terrorist behavior on the part of some whites against blacks. People who lived in the northern U.S. or its western free territories were tired of the war, incredulous when told of racist attacks in the South, and tired of paying taxes to maintain federal troops in the seceding states. Historian Fergus M. Bordewich’s Klan War traces the origins and rise of the Ku Klux Klan after Lincoln’s assassination and Andrew Johnson’s ambition to destroy any southern reconstruction efforts that included civil rights for blacks.

But during the presidential campaign season, Democrats rejected Andrew Johnson’s bid or another term since he was isolated from Congress and transparently had no interest in upholding the rule of law if it countered his racist views. Throughout the South, the Klan went on rampages against Republicans, black and white—but mainly black; killing with impunity and otherwise intimidating voters from electing Republicans. Despite the hundreds of men, women, and children the Klan murdered, tortured, and wounded, Grant won the election as a Republican, and dozens of black politicians won elections at state and local levels throughout the south. The author’s state-by-state research into murders often reads as a mind-numbing list of atrocities committed by men hostile to civil rights, eager to deny then—as even today—the rights to blacks granted by the 14th amendment. It is simply morally repugnant to read of whites then—and now—refer to themselves as victims of emancipation. Although whites complained about blacks stirring up unrest and attacking innocent whites, they never produced a body, but wherever the Klan went, they piled up bodies on the street, hung them from a tree, and dumped them in a river.

Grant was a person of the type that seemed to be the sort whose actions positively affected the lives of millions: The man who had been agnostic on the issue of slavery and civil rights until confronted with it. Once encountered, these men then devoted their energies towards prosecuting those racists who harmed others. Grant had a tough battle ahead of him. Crushing the KKK ultimately required the suspension of habeas corpus in nine counties of South Carolina’s, where murders and lynchings were most egregious. The very facts that show how effective federal agents were in arresting and charging members of the KKK with various civil crimes also show why its success was its downfall: The number of KKK members charged with various federal infractions was in the thousands. Per state. None of the states had the legal staff to prosecute the cases; none had jails and prisons large enough to house the accused and convicted; and no taxpayer, North or South, wanted to pay for these over the course of the man years it would take to see their fruition.

In the end, the federal government succeeded in breaking up the KKK. However, the South’s racists never renounced their views or behaviors, and the matter of states’ rights won in the courts over the federal government’s ability to enforce its own laws. One hundred and sixty-odd years later, hostilities remain against equal protection under the law, presumably from people who are pro-insurrection and pro-states’ rights, in order to create a legal vacuum in which torts occur that violate civil rights as provided for in the 14th Amendment and the Bill of Rights—for those raped, castrated, tortured, and lynched: terrorist acts in the name of race.

For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...

[Neal Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I often write reviews for my own benefit so I can go back and remember what I read. What follows is a short synopsis of the book. If you're looking at this for a review, you should know it's a pretty good book. The focus is a lot on the events surrounding Ulysses Grant more so than on himself. But Bordewich is a good writer and more than held my interest).

Bordewich argues that Grant's administration effectively broke up the Klan that formed shortly after the Civil War. Over time there have been multiple reiterations of the Klan; the Klan of the 1920s, established in part as a response to the film 'a Birth of a Nation' was one iteration. Nonetheless, it's not real clear who started the original Klan but Bordewich focuses on Nathan Bedford Forest as a likely candidate. Guilty of a savage massacre of Black soldiers at Fort Pillow during the Civil War, Forest would become a major player in Tennessee local politics in suppressing the black vote through violence and intimidation.

Andrew Johnson's administration sent emissaries through the South to gather information on the state of race relations. Ulysses Grant, serving as secretary of War, made one such trip and presented a rather rosy picture. Johnson would also send Carl Schurz, a former Union General who had fled Germany during the revolutions of 1848. Schurz spent 3 months in the South and would produce a scathing report on racial violence in the South that would help provide the impetus for Reconstruction.

As president, Grant would push hard for the passage of the 15th amendment guaranteeing African American men the right to vote. In addition Congress would pass 3 so called 'enforcement acts' to guarantee the amendment was followed, the last of which spearheaded by Congressman Benjamin Butler was nicknamed the Ku Klux Klan Act. These bills would buttress the amendment with the weight of the US Military.

And the situation was dire in many parts of the South. Bordewich focuses a lot on conditions in the two Carolinas, where things were most dire. In North Carolina the lynching of Graham's black town commissioner as well as the assassination of state senator John Stephens would spur governor Holden to suspend habeas corpus and declare Alamance County in a state of insurrection. The Shoffner Act would lead to the formation of state militias to fight the Klan. George Kirk was put in charge and rounded up many of the perpetrators, only to see them later released by a federal judge. There were also reports of prisoner abuse under his watch. The ensuing outrage among white voters would lead to Democrats taking the state legislature and eventually impeaching Holden.

In South Carolina Governor Robert Scott took a similar approach but integrated the state militia with African Americans as well. This would lead to the Ku Klux Klan lynching Jim Williams a leader of one of the militia units. Grant would send in the US Military into South Carolina led by Lewis Merrill and arrest many of the terrorists. However, it's leader, James Rufus Bratton, would flee and eventually make his way to London, Ontario in Canada. Later Grant would authorize an arrest warrant and send secret agents into Canada to kidnap Bratton and bring him back for justice, unfortunately only to see a US Judge authorize his release.

Congress would also form a commission to examine the conditions in the South. The so-called KKK Committe would send two groups of Congressmen through the South to interview the victims of Klan violence. One of these was led by Horace Maynard a representative from Tennessee. Bordewich details many of the atrocities they uncovered.

Despite Grant's progress in breaking the Klan, too much racial animus existed in the South for Reconstruction to succeed. There was also a split in the Republican party led by Carl Schurz. We might remember that he initially detailed many of the atrocities of the South in a congressional report. However Schurz and others like Senator Trumbull would come to view Reconstruction as a violation of the States' right and advocated making peace with the South. They also wanted the government to focus more on civil service reform and the national debt. These Liberal Republicans, as they called themselves, would field a challenger to Grant in the 1872 presidential election. Schurz wanted Trumbull as a candidate, but the convention chose Horace Greeley, a newspaper editor, instead. The democrats chose not to run a candidate. Even though Grant won the election, republican majorities in Congress were much slimmer and focus turned to the national debt. The reality was that the administration didn't provide the funds to effectively prosecute the numbers of Klan arrested. There was also the financial collapse of 1873 which further diverted funds.

There was also the matter of the Supreme Court which would invalidate much of the Klan enforcement acts. The final death nail in Reconstruction was not the election of Rutherford B Hayes but rather the massacre at Colfax, Louisiana in April of 1873. Hundreds of freedmen and members of the state militia who had taken refuge in the courthouse were overpowered and murdered by the KKK. Some of the terrorists were arrested but the Supreme Court in United States v Cruikshank ruled that murder was not a federal crime and that the bill of rights did not apply to the states. Any justice would have to come from the states which were controlled by white supremacists.

All in all Bordewich's Klan War was a very enlightening read. Some of the atrocities can be difficult to get through. But I think it's important to have a balanced view of history. There are so many unsung heroes who fought the Klan and spoke out against prejudice. Their voices appear very modern. The likes of Albion Tourgee, Thaddeus Stevens, Benjamin Butler, Frederick Douglas, and of course Ulysses Grant himself.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little dry at times, but Ulysses S. Grant is such an interesting figure to me, and I love learning about him. I feel like Reconstruction was a second civil war, in a way, and it's the civil war that the South unequivocally won.

I read a few Greg Iles books earlier this year where former KKK members form a militant racist group of their own and the things they did to their victims sounded like fiction until reading this book. They did some very horrific things.

Will be looking into the author's other works as well.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review title: Losing the Klan war

This is a passable history, but I would start with Eric Foner's older but better-written Reconstruction history Reconstruction: America's unfinished revolution :1863-1877 before reading this one.

While the subtitle references Grant, the history seems more scattershot and mostly uses Grant's post-war political career and presidency as a framework for the Reconstruction period. Bordewich does document how Grant was instrumental in pushing for the three Enforcement Acts passed to give teeth to the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments establishing the principle of equal civil and voting rights for all races. By the time of Grant's term as President Reconstruction had begun to falter under Andrew Johnson's south-leaning leadership, northern voters' desire to be done with talk of racial issues and equal rights, and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and it's violent extra-legal methods for enforcing white supremacy. Grant continued to escalate his efforts toward equality through the Third Enforcement Act, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, which included measures increasing Federal military and criminal justice presence in the most Klan-controlled regions and suspension of habeus corpus to overcome local civil law enforcement reluctance to defend black civil rights in the face of violent Klan opposition.

The 1872 report on Klan activity that the act generated, documenting the violent suppression of civil rights in the former Confederate states, most notably in South Carolina (where habeus corpus was suspended in eight counties), was introduced in Congress at the same time of increasing calls for "amnesty" allowing former Confederate military and government officials to vote and hold office, which would bring the battle against black voting and civil rights out of the violence of the night riders and into the courtroom and ballot box. Republican Party leaders like Carl Schultz who had once supported civil and voting rights

emotionally urged Republicans to stop blaming southerners for the past. The "late rebels," he pleaded, had suffered enough pain, degradation, and mortification- why continue to "torture their feelings"? The South's real problem now was no longer insurrection but the need for good government. It no longer made any sense to exclude the "more intelligent classes." In addition, he maintained, amnesty would benefit not just the abused whites, but the "colored people" too, by fostering warmer feelings between them and the former "master class." Indeed, he ventured, "Nothing better could happen to them. . . . I know human nature and am not easily deceived. The great evil we have to overcome is that party spirit which has created a sort of terrorism to which but too many submit." The turn of phrase is startling. While Schurz dwelt on the metaphorical "terrorism" of the establishment Republicans toward rebellious members such as himself, he spared not a word for the actual, physical terrorism that was a daily fact of life for the freed people. (p.276)

When an amnesty bill was introduced, Radical Republican Charles Sumner inserted a "poison-pill" amendment calling for equal accommodation of all races on "common carriers--trains, omnibuses, ships--hotels, inns, theaters, . . . schools, churches, cemeteries, and benevolent associations." (p. 277) After nervous Republican congressmen expressed their concern about social leveling and mixing of the races, Sumner slammed back: "the question was not one of 'taste or of social preferences: it is a stern, austere, hard question of rights." (p. 278). As Sumner had expected, the amendment both killed the amnesty bill and forced congressionmen to put their racism on the voting record.

So with Grant's reelection in 1872, Federal budget cuts and the massive backlog of cases from his successful Klan Act enforcement meant that murder charges were abandoned or plea-bargained down to such minor offenses that the military leader of the enforcement effort warned that the Klan would "naturally construe their immunity from persecution and punishment into license to do the like again." (p. 295-296). The pattern for Jim Crow law enforcement for southern Black men and women for the next 100 years was established. The amnesty bill passed giving white confederates full citizenship, while Sumner's civil rights amendment was voted down 38-2 (p. 312-313). Grant won reelection in a landslide. But Reconstruction was over.

Was Grant's Klan War a lost opportunity? Bordewich concludes: "Had Grant's campaign been properly financed, sustained over time, and supported by consistent punishment by the courts it could have not only destroyed the Klan but ensured the survival of a two-party system and civil rights in the South." (p.361-362). After reading as much of American history, culture, politics, and philosophy as I have I am not as disappointed by the lost opportunity as I am certain of the impossibility of its ever occurring in the future. White supremacy is indigenous and systemic in all of American history, culture, and politics, and after my recent reading The Message I have no hope that any ethical and moral philosophy will correct the American condition. American redemption will depend on God alone working in the hearts of humanity.

[Graham Oberland · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great - really well written and easy to read, but still serious academic history replete with primary source quotes and insightful analysis. As one of the most public admirers of Ulysses S Grant, I may be a bit biased, but I'd recommend this book to anyone. I especially loved reading it at the same time as Gone With The Wind. Gone With The Wind (a work of fiction, to be clear!) romanticizes the KKK and portrays it as almost necessary. I don't believe in banning books and think Gone With The Wind is an important source for understanding the Lost Cause narrative, as well as undeniably a well-written story. But it has to be read in context - this book gives you that context.

And what a brutal context it is. The book opens in Graham, NC, a town that I both drive past often and share a first name, with one of many disturbing Klan murders of a Black political leader, Wyatt Outlaw. From there, the book traces the rise of the KKK through its murky origins (potentially as a traveling musical troupe?) to its rapid growth in both size and brutality. Through disturbingly detailed accountings of their murders, rapes, tortures, and intimidation, Bordewich captures the way the Klan operated. He describes them, accurately, as America's first domestic terrorists. They not only killed countless Black and white Republican leaders and politicians, they also wrapped their tendrils of fear around the Southern justice system. Some judges were outright Klan members, but many more were sympathizers or intimidated by the Klan. Juries and witnesses were also intimidated out of testifying against the Klan, so that they operated with essentially free reign. The book is replete with people testifying that they saw Klan atrocities but were told they would be killed if they spoke up.

The Klan’s power grew in the vacuum created by Andrew Johnson’s reluctance to enforce Reconstruction or really any federal influence in the South. By the time Ulysses the book then dives into the buildup of Grant's war on the Klan, which took place slowly. Initially, Grant seems to have engaged in wishful thinking, hoping the problem would go away. But he was unable to ignore the constant buildup of pleas from Southern citizens to do something about the Klan's brutality and the reports of "outrages" coming in daily. To his credit, Grant realized that something had to be done and set about doing it. The book covers the passage of the Enforcement Acts, which the Republican-dominated Congress created to help enforce the 14th and 15th amendments. The Acts were key weapons in the war, as they moved trials for Klan offenses out of federal and into state court. This meant that the government could finally obtain convictions. Grant appointed energetic chiefs for his war - Maj. Lewis Merrill to head the military operations, and Amos Ackerman (a former Confederate) as attorney general.

The government pursued aggressive measures, including suspending habeas corpus in several South Carolina counties. Under Grant’s leadership, the federal government broke the power of the Klan, and many were convicted. The story (and book), however, does not end on a triumphant note there. Although the Klan could not win by force of arms, they essentially won by force of persistence. After Rutherford B Hayes won the presidency in 1876 by essentially promising to end Reconstruction to win in the House, Grant’s hard-won gains reversed. The South no longer needed the Klan – they could just poll tax, intimidate, and defraud the black vote into oblivion, and they did so. The stats at the end of the book are stunning. In 1896 there were 130,334 registered Black voters in Louisiana – by 1904, just 8 years later, there 1,342. The first Black congressman in Reconstruction was from North Carolina (Fayetteville), and so was the last one – George H. White, from Tarboro!

The book tells a story that is sadly very relevant today. In some ways, the lesson is hopeful: the book shows how a determined effort of government can root out evil. Right now, we need to remember that more than ever. As our President continues his long-running effort to con our nation into believing that only fascist governments can get things done, we can put Grant’s fight against the Klan alongside other non-fascist government achievements like beating the fascists in World War 2.

There is also a cautionary lesson: even the most determined government effort must be continuous as the work is never truly done. The KKK itself would rise again in less powerful but still terrifying incarnations, but more importantly the spirit that animated it persists to this day. Reading this book it is hard not to draw a direct link from those terrorists in the 1800s to the ones who stormed the Capitol in 2020 (the first time the Confederate flag ever set foot in Congress). Grant’s heirs at the Department of Defense in 2025 are making a final surrender to Confederate ideas, renaming bases after traitorous generals and weakening the military with their racist refusal to let the brightest minds lead the force, no matter their race or orientation. Hegseth, Trump, and co are using many of the same themes that run through the many primary sources cited here to justify KKK atrocities. Racist newspapers and politicians during Reconstruction framed basic rights for Black Americans as tyrannical despotism over the white man, the MAGA gang does the same today. We need to take up Grant’s mantle and restart the long fight against white supremacy if we are to honor the legacy of his fierce fight, and we can take lessons from how he refused to give in to the propagandists or the weak-willed apologists.
The book is also an interesting read for those of us who are appalled by the recent federal deployments in LA and DC. You don’t have to squint very hard to see how Trump could say he is doing the same as what Grant did - using the power of the government to quell an insurrection and protect citizens. Though I firmly believe that Grant was justified and Trump is not, it’s important to see how arguments over state power can be twisted to justify ends. This reality highlights the need for both morality in a political world that, on both sides, has too often lost it, and adherence to strict standards of civil-military relations that preserve the power of the federal military for true emergencies.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I don't like doing this, and I have occasionally commented on reviews when Kindle readers have done it with less warrant (IMO) than in this case, but, while the book itself, as far as content and readability, is at least 4.5 stars on my quarter-star rating system, it falls backward because of a production error.

And, that is, it's missing one entire folio, at least in the copy I checked out from my library. Yes, as in a standard hardcover 32-page folio.

And, it did NOT fall out, as in, this was not due to a bad binding job that has it skipping from page 232 to 265.

Rather? There's a duplicate of the last folio of the book — index pages, acknowledgements, the typography page, and a couple of blank pages to make that folio fill out — that is inserted there. That means, bad production job that affected more than just this one copy. Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? Don't know. I don't know how often a modern book printing press has its pressmen check on a run. Given cutbacks in the last 20-30 years that have hit book publishing probably about half as hard as print journalism, combined with ownership even more greedy, I'm venturing that quality checks on a book press run are few and far between.

And, that's that.

The book itself?

First, per the subtitle, it is NOT primarily a bio of Grant. To the degree it is? It is definitely better than that of Ron Chernow or Ronald White (my reviews linked). Grant, as Reconstruction enforcer, comes off as more hesitant in the start of his first term, and more willing to wrap things up in the second half of his second term, than either of them portray.

Beyond that? Rather, as far as national-level politicians, a fair amount of the discussion is on leading Congressional players. Spoons Butler, for example, gets a fair amount of airtime. Even more does the spotlight turn, and at times harshly and rightly so, on one-time Radical Carl Schurz. In turn, and noticing my library has it, this makes me ready to get Bordewich's "Congress at War" book, which is about the Congress during the Civil War, and appears to cheese off a few St. Abraham of Lincoln holystoners by detailing just how much Congress sometimes had to move past a recalcitrant Lincoln. (I know the basics, but, given what I've read here and seen here about Bordewich's level of work, want to read his details.)

That said, the bottom line of this work is "on the ground." Southern Blacks and Northern Blacks moved south, both freedmen and free men, Southern Unionists and Northern Whites of conscience, all trying to implement the details of Reconstruction. And, even with Grant's eventual help, the "other hand" was taking away as Grant even in his first term supported budget cuts that included downsizing the military even more.

Eventually firing his most effective Attorney General, Amos Akerman, didn't help. (Bordewich speculates, as did some at the time, that Grant didn't like Akerman apparently looking at railroad-related issues, given he had already made some legal rulings against the Union Pacific. Akerman's successor, George Williams, was already pulling in his horns on his own before he saw Grant more clearly doing that.

One big problem in all of this is that, when various Confederate states ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, this got them full readmission to Congress, restoration of civilian courts, etc. Eventually, three Enforcement Acts, the third commonly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, empowered Grant to act, including with the military and the suspension of habeas corpus.

Problems? You bet. First, the continued shrinkage of the Army noted above. Second, Akerman and his US DAs around the South bringing ever more cases, but with no more money to hire assistants, etc. Third, Grant's reluctance to use the full power of the KKK Act, especially after Schurz and Liberal Republicans had attacked him.

Not quite a spoiler alert, as this doesn't cover all the details on the ground in the South. And, I can't tell you more, anyway, because that is EXACTLY where that missing folio is.

That said, once more, back to Grant. While this is nowhere near a full bio of him, and not even a full presidential bio, yet, you get a more dynamic look at him as Reconstruction president, and a few fleshed out snippets of personality, that you might not elsewhere.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

As has been the case with Bordewich’s other books I have read Klan War is a mix of two styles of history telling: an academic vs a popular approach.

Its 127 pages of endnotes and 23 page bibliography demonstrate the extensive research done to create this book.

The vast amount of information garnered from these primary and secondary sources was integrated into a very systematic and comprehensive narrative. The sociocultural and political dynamics which fueled the struggles Grant went through in battling the KKK and its sympathizers were described in a highly nuanced and detailed manner. Thumbnail sketches of many of the individuals involved enhanced the extent to which the drama was played out between the various factions engaged in the struggles to protect the rights, as well as the lives, of African Americans.

However, there were times that I found the descriptions to be so thorough that my interest in the book began to falter about half way through. A meticulous discussion of the events in one southern state was interesting. But very detailed presentations of what took place in a handful of the states, much of which was similar, got to be slow going at best. Likewise for Bordewich’s presentation of Congressional hearings and debates or Supreme Court proceedings. The lengthy descriptions with quotes by various parties involved were more than I felt was necessary to grasp the main points he was trying to make.

In the epilogue the author pointed out how anti African American racism continued to have a powerful influence on American society even after the KKK was largely defeated by Grant. The evolution of racism over the course of the late 19th, the 20th, and early 21st centuries was briefly described. Mention was made of opposition by some Southerners to the removal of statues of Confederate military heroes in 2017. Although the book was published in 2023, nothing was noted about Trump’s racist statements and actions in subsequent years.

Readers who have a deep interest in the history of Reconstruction will find Klan War very worthwhile. Others, like myself, may find it to be a bit too much. Despite its being very informative about a US President whom I knew little about I was as much relieved as satisfied by the time I finished it. Thus, I will give it 3 stars.

12/23/2023 Addendum: the KKK resurfaced after WWI. A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan describes how it did that and how it was eventually brought down:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

[Rachel]

Highly recommend reading of "Grant" by Ron Chernow before reading this; it gives an understanding of the history of the times leading up to the terror of the klan.

This is a long tragic history of the racism, violence, and terror instituted by the secret society of the ku klux klan into post Civil War U.S. The klan is one of the greatest enemies to the ideals of America. There are some things worth fighting for and some things worth fighting against. We fight against racism, terrorism, and violence. We fight for the ideals stated in our Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

This book shows the destruction and terror brought on by the klan, as well as their organization, tactics and violence on blacks and the whites in favor of equality. It explores the messiness of the times in discerning what was actually happening. It makes one weep that the influence of the klan was so strong and it's elimination took so long. It shows that some battles must be fought to the bitter end.
------
p232 ...[Amos Akerman] wrote, "Nothing is more idle than to attempt to conciliate by kindness that portion of the southern people who are still malcontent. They take all kindness on the part of the government as evidence of timidity, and hence are emboldened to lawlessness by it. It appears to be impossible for the government to win their affections. But it can commend their respect by the exercise of its power. It is the business of a judge to terrify evildoers, not to coax them."

p365 "Wyatt Outlaw's murder went unavenged and unpunished. ...But his death was not in vain. His aspirations remain alive in Wayman Chapel's commitment to public service, democracy, forgiveness, and nonviolence, a remarkable testimony to the persistence of the values he stood for and tried to advance in the community, indeed a country, that was not yet ready to listen."

[Lester Strong · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book both very moving and a challenging read. The material is so compelling; nevertheless, it is painful to confront the voluminous details of our shameful history during and after Reconstruction. It's definitely worth doing, and I expect this book will be a strong contributor to the literature that furthers national healing around race.

Reading this the same year that the state of Florida banned Black history, for all intents and purposes, was an exercise in cognitive dissonance. This book should be required reading in our schools, right alongside the Constitution. It won't be, of course. It seems strange to talk about murder, rape and torture as "engaging" but the author found a way to do it. The avalanche of detail puts to rest the calumny about this nightmarish part of our history being exaggerated.

I was particularly fascinated to learn the actual views of Horace Greeley, Ham Fish, and the dastardly and faithless Carl Schurz. There's a six-part mini-series in the offing, I hope, that takes us from Schurz's beginnings on the Rhine to Sleepy Hollow, NY. And although I think I learned the term "carpetbaggers" in grade school, it was the intimate specificity of the names and back stories that made me understand how significant these people were, these purportedly effete Northerners from Ivy League schools who dared to think they could help the South recover.

The portrait of Grant that emerges from this book was wonderfully nuanced. I am not one of those who has read biographies of all the presidents, so following the arc of his life was a revelation. I am certainly glad he's been re-evaluated as not one of the worst presidents of all time. Surely we have quite a few others who can wear that crown.

Randomly, I also loved learning about the geographically odd role of the Albany, NY jail in the Reconstruction, and role of the New York Herald, which could always be counted on to say something vituperous, it seems.

[Zosma Leonis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the title of this book is somewhat misleading, as Ulysses S. Grant is something of a minor character, there is a lot of information about the early KKK, and anyone interested in American History will find this book a worthwhile read. Grant was a strong proponent of civil rights, but he’s not really the focus of the book. Bordewich does justice to Grant, detailing legislation he championed in support of civil rights, as well as the judges and cabinet members he appointed who helped make his vision a reality.

And it was a reality. Sort of. For a little while. The reader learns about many of the new elected officials, many newly emancipated, in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, and the ways their activism pushed forward the civil rights agenda.

Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, there’s a backlash, and it is this that forms the bulk of this book. Alongside the stories of brave people who fought for equal rights are the stories of people who believed in both segregation and subjugation, and the violence they perpetrated in pursuit of their goals. There are numerous descriptions of lynchings, assaults, brutality, and cruelty as the KKK became more organized.

Readers will learn the many ways in which the KKK of the 1860s and 1870s was different from what we now think of the Klan, and may be surprised to find out the Klan was essentially dormant from the late 19th century until the early 1920s, at which point it was increasing immigration that provided the impetus for the resurrection of the Klan into what we know today.

Readalikes: The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America’s Most Progressive Era by Douglas R. Egerton
The Ordeal of the Reunion: A New History of Reconstruction by Mark Wahlgren Summers
Ecstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848-1877 by Brenda Wineapple