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In an effort to address the disparity of secondary research on women of the right, Blee examines how the Klan attracted over a half a million women into its ranks. She devotes Part I of her narrative to one-hundred percent Americanism and Christian womanhood. As other historians have argued, Blee indicates that the Klan was the self-appointed guardian of “white Protestant women’s rights. The political efforts of a women’s order, the Klan claimed, could safeguard women’s suffrage and expand women’s other legal rights while working to preserve white Protestant supremacy.” The second part of Blee’s study tells how women joined local klaverns and demarcates how Klanswomen were able “circulate the Klan’s message of racial, religious, and national bigotry…into the normal everyday life of white Protestants.” Blee’s analysis of the insertion of women into such a radical organization is unsettling and works at removing society’s stereotype of nurturing women. It is, however, important to the understanding of the Second Klan. Examining either the KKK or the WKKK alone presents a myopic view of the Hooded Order; “Klanswomen acted in different ways that complemented those of Klansmen, making the Klan’s influence more extensive and more deadly than the actions of Klansmen alone” suggest. Thus, the freshest contribution of Blee’s narrative is her examination of gender ideology. Another of Blee’s major contributions is the second her description of the lives and political agenda of members of the WKKK. She demonstrates that prominent Klan women were successful at weaving the Klan and other right wing societies into their daily lives and belief systems. “The 100 percent American women of the WKKK created an organization that was enormously and disastrously successful.” Although the Klan employed a variety of techniques to destroy the alleged enemies of one-hundred percent Americanism, the most effective tactics in the WKKK was rumors of un-American activities, gossip to expose sexual immorality, and boycotts to drive Jewish or Catholic owned businesses into bankruptcy. Blee also points to the complexity of WKKK activities. Even as Klanswomen held rallies featuring Baptist ministers and other prominent speakers to build “solidarity and commitment within the Klan by intensifying racial hatred and religious bigotry,” they also scheduled pretentious charity drives to “deflect public attention from Klan violence.” For Blee, this dichotomy proves that the Hooded Order operated on multiple, often contradictory, levels. Blee fails, however, to fully explain the downfall of the WKKK. While an analysis of its rise and short-lived success is admirable, an examination of its subsequent failure would have provided a more balanced picture for readers. These caveats notwithstanding, Blee’s work compliments the current body of scholarship and provides a more full explanation of the Klan’s activities, members, and ideologies; any new historical appraisal of the Invisible Empire should consider this monograph. As Blee intended, it also deepens our understanding of the consequences of reactionary politics and right-wing organizations.Read full review
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