A Fever in the Heartland

The content is interesting and the narrative is structured well. But I find Egan's writing irritating and I don't think I'll be reading any other books of his on purpose.

Although the book tells an incredibly important story, it leaves one with the impression that the KKK died in Indiana as a result of the case it describes. The Klan may have been wounded, but not mortally so, to Indiana's shame. Still, this is an important read that reminds one of MAGA tactics today and the disgusting behavior of certain narcissistic Republican politicians.

A book about what happens when a society recovering after a war and a pandemic is taken over by explicit and unashamed white supremacist thugs who worship a con man who thinks no rules apply to him and that he can do whatever he wants. This is a great book and I wish every American could read it and be warned … Egan knows how to write a page-turner.

Left you wanting a follow up book like “They Thought They Were Free” — an exploration of how the people of Indiana wrestled with having been part of a mass psychosis after the fever broke. We see now that, as Indiana was thought to be the Alabama of the North in the 1920s, it’s the Alabama of the north again today - deeply deeply in thrall to MAGA instead of its ancestor, the KKK.