*Starred Review* Bartoletti follows multi-award-winning titles such as Hitler Youth (2005) with another standout contribution to youth history shelves. Here, she examines how the Ku Klux Klan formed and grew out of the ashes of the Civil War. Bartoletti, who taught eighth-graders for 18 years, writes in admirably clear, accessible language about one of the most complex periods in U.S. history, and she deftly places the powerfully unsettling events into cultural and political context without oversimplifying. It's the numerous first-person quotes, though, that give the book its beating heart, and her searing, expertly selected stories of people on all sides of the violent conflicts will give readers a larger understanding of the conditions that incubated the Klan's terrorism; how profoundly the freed people and their sympathizers suffered; and how the legacy of that fear, racism, and brutality runs through our own time. In an author's note, Bartoletti describes visiting a contemporary Klan rally as part of her research, and that bold, immersive approach to her subject is evident in every chapter of this thoroughly researched volume. Like the individual stories, the powerful archival images on every page will leave an indelible impression on young readers, who will want to move on to the extensive annotated resources. The adjacent Story behind the Story feature fills in more details about this lucid, important title, which should be required reading for young people as well as the adults in their lives.--Engberg, Gillian Copyright 2010 Booklist

In this comprehensive, accessible account, Newbery Honor author Bartoletti (Hitler Youth) draws from documentary histories, slave narratives, newspapers, congressional testimony, and other sources to chronicle the origins and proliferation of the Ku Klux Klan against the charged backdrop of Reconstruction politics and legislation. Bartoletti uses the letters and diaries of the founders of the KKK-six former Confederate officers-as well as some informed speculation to explain their incentive for starting a "club" to, in the words of an original member, "protect property and preserve law and order." The author lives up to her introductory promise to avoid censoring racist language and images, and includes some horrifying descriptions of lynchings and murders perpetuated during KKK raids on freedmen's homes, churches, and schools. Copious photos, engravings, and illustrations provide a hard-hitting graphic component to this illuminating book. And while Bartoletti notes that contemporary "hate groups wield none of the power or prestige that the Ku Klux Klan held in earlier years," her account of attending a Klan meeting while researching the book is chilling to the core. Ages 12-up. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

As in Hitler Youth (rev. 5/05), Bartoletti tackles a tough, grim subject with firmness and sensitivity. Together the title and subtitle are somewhat misleading, however. Once past the checkered origin of the Klan and its brushfire "bogeyman" spread, events Bartoletti makes understandable, the narrative focuses on the victims, not their tormentors. No success goes unpunished. Independent farmer Samuel Tutson sees his wife whipped and raped; crippled circuit preacher Elias Hill is dragged out of his cabin and beaten. But black people of all ages flock to the Freedmen's Bureau schools, where white northerners risk their own lives to teach them, and to new churches of their own, where black preachers risk their lives for any utterance deemed political. A brief turnaround comes with the Civil Rights Act of 1871, a.k.a. the Ku Klux Klan Act, which frees the federal government to move against the Klan and leads to several trials and convictions. In Bartoletti's moving account, Elias Hill and other aforenamed victims testify. Reconstruction is soon to end, though; the "separate and unequal" Jim Crow years will follow; and the Klan will be twice reborn -- events Bartoletti sketches in succinctly. Period illustrations throughout make seeing believing, and the appended civil rights timeline, bibliography, and source notes are an education in themselves. Exemplary in scholarship, interpretation, and presentation. barbara bader (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 7-10-This richly documented, historically contextualized account traces the origin and evolution of the Ku Klux Klan from a small mischievous social club into a powerful, destructive organization. With compelling clarity, anecdotal detail, and insight, Bartoletti presents the complex era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877, that gave rise to the KKK. After the Civil War, the defeated South was a simmering cauldron of political, economic, and social instability. As the federal government struggled to provide law and order and to protect the rights of freed slaves, secret groups of Southern whites banded together to vent their anger over lost property, prosperity, and power. From six men in a law office in Pulaski, TN, KKK dens spread across the South targeting freed blacks and their supporters. Although the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 was meant to end violence, KKK activity persisted through the 20th century, diminishing in the last 30 years as civil rights became a reality for all Americans. Bartoletti includes excerpts from slave narratives, archival illustrations, and historical quotes to convey the human drama of KKK terrorism. An annotated bibliography and source notes illuminate the variety and significance of reference works. Additional secondary titles include Chester L. Quarles's scholarly The Ku Klux Klan and Related American Racialist and Antisemitic Organizations (McFarland, 2008). Bartoletti effectively targets teens with her engaging and informative account that presents a well-structured inside look at the KKK, societal forces that spawn hate/terrorist groups, and the research process.-Gerry Larson, Durham School of the Arts, NC (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.