Book Club

The Saratoga Rotary Book Club meets monthly, at 7:00pm, on the first Wednesday of the month. All club members are welcome. If you are interested in joining us, please let Verna Wong know at vrnwng2@gmail.com. 

 

In June, we discussed A Fever in the Heartland, by Timothy Egan. Cathie Thermond was the facilitator. 

 

Fever in the Heartland recounted the long-forgotten dark chapter of US history in the 1920's when the Ku Klux Klan, led by D.C. Stephenson, the grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, infiltrated the Heartland and the West. Growth in the cult was steep, as this charismatic charlatan fomented fear and hate of those who were not white and Protestant. As his target audience continued to hear the same message of violent intolerance of Catholics, Jews, and Blacks, they began embracing his message and justifying their membership and actions. 

D.C. Stephenson's influence grew so extreme that institutions that were meant to protect the public, such as the police force and government institutions, were saturated with Ku Klux Klan members. At the height of his power, D.C. Stephenson was entertaining the idea of running for President.

 

D.C. Stephenson railed against the sale and consumption of alcohol but, behind closed doors, he was an alcoholic. He preached against women losing their virginity before marriage but raped and physically abused women with impunity. 

It took the words of a dying young lady, Madge Oberholtzer, who had been raped and ravaged by D.C. Stephenson, to recount the horrors of her encounter with D.C. Stephenson, to expose D.C. Stephenson for the demon that he was in a court of law. 

Once D.C. Stephenson was behind bars for the murder of Madge Overholtzer, membership in the KKK became less attractive and less appealing. Membership dropped precipitously and the Klan lost its political power. 

We who read and reviewed the book saw ominous parallels between D.C. Stephenson's dark influence 100 years ago and what is going on, politically, today. Some book club members reflected on the small towns that they grew up in and the narrow-mindedness that still exists there because the residents haven't ventured out of their hometowns and fear the diversity of thought, religion, and people outside of their community.

 

Another warning theme that we all felt, too, was that if we don't learn from mistakes made in the past, we are doomed to repeat them. The author focused on a man who wreaked great havoc 100 years ago, but the message was not lost on us that we need to be diligent and proactive in protecting the freedoms and rights that we are blessed to have because they can disappear.

 

July - There will be no book club meeting this month.
August 7 - The Women, by Kristin Hannah
September 4 - The Berry Pickers, by Amanda Peters
October 2 - The Last Supper Club, by Ma