From the former heir-apparent to white nationalism, The Klansman’s Son is an astonishing memoir of a childhood built on fear, of breaking from a community of hate. When coded language and creeping authoritarianism spread the ideas of white nationalists, this is an essential book with a powerful voice. Derek Black was raised to take over the white nationalist movement in the United States. Their father, Don Black, was a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan and started Stormfront, the internet’s first white supremacist website—Derek built the kids’ page. David Duke, was also their close family friend and mentor. Racist hatred, though often wrapped up in respectability, was all Derek knew. Then, while in college in 2013, Derek publicly renounced white nationalism and apologized for their actions and the suffering that they had caused. The majority of their family stopped speaking to them, and they disappeared into academia, convinced that they had done so much harm that there was no place for them in public life. But in 2016, as they watched the rise of Donald Trump, they immediately recognized what they were hearing—the spread and mainstreaming of the hate they had helped cultivate—and they knew that they couldn’t stay silent. This is a thoughtful, insightful, and moving account of a singular life, with important lessons for our troubled times. Derek can trace a uniquely insider account of the rise of white nationalism, and how a child indoctrinated with hate can become an anti-racist adult. Few understand the ideology, motivations, or tactics of the white nationalist movement like Derek, and few have ever made so profound a change.

"A haunting tapestry of interwoven stories that inform us not just about our past but about the resentment-bred demons that are all too present in our society today . . . The interconnected strands of race and history give Ball’s entrancing stories a Faulknerian resonance." —Walter Isaacson, The New York Times Book Review A 2020 NPR staff pick | One of The New York Times' thirteen books to watch for in August | One of The Washington Post's ten books to read in August | A Literary Hub best book of the summer| One of Kirkus Reviews' sixteen best books to read in August The life and times of a militant white supremacist, written by one of his offspring, National Book Award–winner Edward Ball Life of a Klansman tells the story of a warrior in the Ku Klux Klan, a carpenter in Louisiana who took up the cause of fanatical racism during the years after the Civil War. Edward Ball, a descendant of the Klansman, paints a portrait of his family’s anti-black militant that is part history, part memoir rich in personal detail. Sifting through family lore about “our Klansman” as well as public and private records, Ball reconstructs the story of his great-great grandfather, Constant Lecorgne. A white French Creole, father of five, and working class ship carpenter, Lecorgne had a career in white terror of notable and bloody completeness: massacres, night riding, masked marches, street rampages—all part of a tireless effort that he and other Klansmen made to restore white power when it was threatened by the emancipation of four million enslaved African Americans. To offer a non-white view of the Ku-klux, Ball seeks out descendants of African Americans who were once victimized by “our Klansman” and his comrades, and shares their stories. For whites, to have a Klansman in the family tree is no rare thing: Demographic estimates suggest that fifty percent of whites in the United States have at least one ancestor who belonged to the Ku Klux Klan at some point in its history. That is, one-half of white Americans could write a Klan family memoir, if they wished. In an era when racist ideology and violence are again loose in the public square, Life of a Klansman offers a personal origin story of white supremacy. Ball’s family memoir traces the vines that have grown from militant roots in the Old South into the bitter fruit of the present, when whiteness is again a cause that can veer into hate and domestic terror.

Are you weary? Trying to follow Jesus and be a “good Christian,” only to hear the voice of shame whisper, try harder? Good Christians are supposedly known for diligently practicing spiritual disciplines like Bible study, prayer, evangelism, and serving God. Disciplines that are expected, through inspired effort, to conquer sin in us and in the world. The tragedy is, so few Christians understand that we aren’t just sinful but wounded. We don’t need a list of disciplines. We need a Healer, a Deliverer to come and set us free. Here is the truth: We have a Healer. His name is Jesus Christ. He loves us. His calls us first to own how desperate we are—for him; and then to accept his invitation to abide in his great love. Kevin Butcher points us toward this healing Jesus, who offers us his all-encompassing love. You will find nothing here about lists and shoulds. Instead, you will discover how to fall in love with Jesus and then how to walk with him—not in drudgery, but freedom—abiding in his love. A love that rescues us from drudgery and shame, surrounding us with joy even in our darkest hour. A love so powerful that it births our worship, obedience, and willingness to surrender all to him. Even when hell is at your doorstep, the love of Jesus will surround you, protect you, empower you, and set you free. Because God’s love isn’t just important to your journey—God’s love is everything.

"The Klansman is the story of Ku Klux Klan atrocities in northwest Alabama in 1965 and how these atrocities affected the lives of many persons ..."--Caption.

The story of Sylvester Ritter is finally told.