The Klan Unmasked

© 1954 I Rode with the Ku Klux Klan
Stetson Kennedy

Arco (London), l954
Morgan (Paris) 1958
University of Florida Press, l990
Talking Books, St. Augustine, 2010
University of Alabama Press, 2010 (Also in l7 foreign language editions.)

I Rode With the Ku Klux Klan

In a fast-paced narrative that both repels and fascinates, Kennedy reveals the inner workings of the KKK from the perspective of an undercover agent in the post World War II era. This riveting book exposes and informs of his the work he and his partner (J. Brown) did fighting and exposing racism, terrorism and fascism in our own back yards!

Fast-paced and suspenseful, The Klan Unmasked is a gripping mix of eyewitness reports of Klan activities. The book is full of accounts of Kennedy and his Klan infiltrating colleague John Brown, about clandestine information gathering and of their efforts to protect people from being tortured, intimidated and murdered.

The book also reveals Kennedy's efforts to report his findings to the media and to any law enforcement agencies that would listen. For a time in the 1940s, Washington news commentator Drew Pearson was reading Klan meeting minutes on national radio. In fact the popular national radio broadcast, Superman had America’s kids sharing the most current secretive Ku Klux Klan passwords as fast as the KKK Grand Dragon could create them.

Kennedy also relays experiences of working against other similar racial hate mongering groups, such as The Colombians in Florida, who had Nazi leaders perpetrating anti-Negro, anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic sentiments. As a result of Kennedy's daring exposure of the Klan and other like minded hate organizations, Kennedy has faced numerous threats to his life and property.

The Klan Unmasked is an eye-opener into the devilish machinations of the KKK. Instead of sermonizing about the issue, Kennedy takes a very daring and practical approach and enthralls the readers with Klan-busting adventures. His work portrays the dangers of falling into the vicious business of hate-mongering very effectively and makes the reader think very hard about racial and social problems currently facing American society.