That is the title of my latest academic working paper, written with Roland Fryer. It details the rise and fall of the Klan in the 1920s. Incredibly, the Klan had millions of members at that time, and most of them were reasonably well-educated. Based on a variety of data sources, we argue that, despite its size and education levels, the . . .
We received this e-mail message today, from Klan buster Stetson Kennedy’s assistant: Thought you’d be proud to know that Stetson is reading your book every night as he soaks in the tub. Not all books he reads have the honor of being a “tub read.” Stetson turns 89 in early October. His website, well worth a visit, can be found . . .
Chapter Two of Freakonomics is titled “How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents?” It deals with the power of information, and more particularly the abuse of information. The K.K.K. part of the story concerns a man named Stetson Kennedy who, in the 1940’s, went undercover and joined the K.K.K. in order to try to dismantle . . .