A Fever in the Heartland Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

Print PDF

For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Women of the Ku Klux Klan and our BookBrowse Review of A Fever in the Heartland.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. The book opens by situating us in the "uniquely American state" of Indiana. What do you think made Indiana in the 1920s "uniquely American"? Why do you think it became particularly fertile ground for the Ku Klux Klan to take root?
2. D. C. Stephenson once remarked, "I did not sell the Klan in Indiana on hatreds. I sold it on Americanism." To what extent do you think this statement was accurate? How did hatred play into Stephenson's version of American values?
3. What role did disinformation serve as a tactic for the Ku Klux Klan to wrest and maintain power? How did media suppression come into play?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Penguin Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.