Mrs. Cook and the Klan: Booze, Bloodshed, and Bigotry in America’s Heartland

by Tom Chorneau

On the day she was murdered, Myrtle Underwood Cook boasted to local authorities about new evidence of a major bootlegging ring operating out of the Rock Island train depot behind her house in a small farming town in eastern Iowa. Then, as she sat at her parlor window sewing, she took a single slug through the heart. She was president of the local temperance union; her killing made the front page of the New York Times. The next day her funeral made national news due to the eerie presence of a small army from the Ku Klux Klan, its members donned in full regalia, drawn from three surrounding states.

It was September 1925, and Al Capone had just taken over the Chicago Outfit, evangelist Billy Sunday was converting thousands to temperance, and the KKK had just marched on Washington, DC. During its first half century of statehood, Iowa lurched from wet to dry and back eight times before Prohibition was ratified in 1919. And back when Iowa was still a territory, its Black Codes imprinted generations with a legacy of intolerance and racism.

Mrs. Cook and the Klan is a true crime investigation that not only sheds new light on Myrtle Underwood Cook’s unsolved killing but also explores the confluence of the social, political, and economic forces that brought the Klan, lawless street gangs, a local mob boss, and the temperance movement together in a small American town.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

276 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2025

About the author

Tom Chorneau is an award-winning journalist with more than three decades in the news business. He has served as a reporter and staff writer at a number of outlets including the Associated Press and the San Francisco Chronicle and his work has appeared in many publications including the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. His new novel, “Enterprise Reporting: Can anyone ever trust the news again?” is available at http://amzn.to/2reqAb9.

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was interesting and informative. The pacing is good and I never got bored or uninterested. This is well-written and researched. If you enjoy history, then I think you might like this. I would recommend this! Special Thank You to Tom Chorneau, University Of Nebraska Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Sheila Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be especially appealing to someone from Iowa. That being said, anyone who is a history buff would appreciate the real life events in this book. I cannot remember where I got the suggestion of this book but I did enjoy reading some of this Iowan history. History repeats itself if we do not learn from history. This book is filled with events that are reminiscent of what is happening right now in our country. It is thought provoking and a bit ominous.

[Nash Δ. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book attempts to unravel the dark, complicated history of the Ku Klux Klan's resurgence in the early 20th century, particularly in the American Midwest. While it promises to uncover fascinating details about a woman’s role in the Klan’s rise, it ultimately struggles to provide a balanced or nuanced exploration of the subject.

The focus on Mrs. Cook, a seemingly ordinary woman with ties to the Klan’s activities, is intriguing. The author aims to highlight her involvement as both a reflection of the larger social context and a way to humanize the dark, violent world of the Klan. However, despite the promising premise, Mrs. Cook’s character often feels underdeveloped, and her personal motivations remain somewhat unclear. She’s framed as a somewhat passive figure, and the book doesn’t dive deeply enough into her psychology or the societal pressures that may have influenced her actions.

The historical background of the Klan’s influence in the Midwest is where Chorneau offers solid insight. He does well to contextualize the broader political climate of the time, explaining the conditions that allowed the Klan to gain a foothold in areas far from its traditional Southern base. The book shines in outlining the Klan’s rise, from its ties to the temperance movement to its violent enforcement of racial and moral purity, but this historical material is often buried under lengthy, sometimes tedious, accounts of smaller events and personalities that don’t contribute much to the central narrative.

However, Chorneau often lingers on details that don’t add much to the central story, and at times, the narrative feels disjointed. The early chapters, which deal with the Klan’s political strategies and the social atmosphere of the time, are, in my opinion, more engaging than some of the later sections. This uneven pacing detracts from the book's impact, making the story feel both sprawling and disconnected.

Overall, the book offers valuable historical insights into the rise of the Klan in America's Heartland, but it falls short of being a deeply engaging narrative. Chroneau's attempt to focus on a central figure like Mrs. Cook has promise but ultimately doesn’t pay off in a way that is satisfying.

[Amanda Newland-Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Engaging but Scattered Read

There were a lot of parts of Mrs. Cook and the Klan that I truly loved—the historical details, the storytelling, and the fascinating subject matter. However, the book often felt like it was jumping around, making it hard to stay focused on what the central theme was supposed to be. And the ending? Incredibly abrupt. I’ve never experienced a more sudden conclusion in a book. It left me wanting more, but not necessarily in a good way. Overall, an interesting read, but the structure and pacing could have been much stronger.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with and advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Margaux · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mrs. Cook and the Klan is a really well-researched and thoroughly captivating real life story of Myrtle Cook, a temperance activist and elderly woman who was murdered in cold blood as a storm of events were occurring around her. The infamous attendants of her services became big news, and the reasons why are a supremely interesting aspect of the story. The small town in Iowa reflects larger trends at work in American society and culture, as Chorneau shows, where racism, drunkenness, illegality and local politics created pressures that ignited into a larger flame, showing how prevalent and raw all of the emotions attached to the larger institutions are. Political instability seems to be a way of American life, and Ms. Cook and her story serve as a snapshot of the larger forces at play.

[Katie Mata · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book for the most part, but I did assume that there would be more about Mrs Cook. I thought we'd get more depth and analysis into her story rather than a really comprehensive history of the anti-movement movement.

And the answer to who killed Mrs Cook? It's promised at the start that there will be an answer and instead it's just a theory thrown in right at the end on the last page. I can see it but I would've liked to have seen more justification for it rather than to end there.

I found the book to be really informative and well researched. I felt I learnt a lot and it was delivered in an easy to read and understand way.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another reviewer remarked this is "an engaging but scattered read" - and that perfectly describes es this book. As a lifelong Iowan, I probably ranked this book higher than others might because I've been to some of the places the author talked about and found the lesser known history fascinating. While interesting, I often caught myself wondering where the book was going - especially in regard to Mrs. Cook who finally gets her due in the last sliver of the book.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting but very scattered in its telling. The titular murder isn’t mentioned in detail until the last few chapters of the book. The previous chapters give the background of the Klan and Prohibition in Iowa which gives insight into the crime, but there is no analysis as to the effect of the crime and the ending is extremely abrupt.