Catching Hell from All Quarters: Anti-Klan Activists in Interwar Missouri

In Catching Hell from All Quarters Sean Rost works to invert the traditional history of what has been termed the second Ku Klux Klan (1915-1930) by examining the efforts of anti-Klan activists, in particular in Missouri, who challenged the growth, recruitment, and political ambitions of the Invisible Empire during the 1920s and 1930s through editorial crusades, educational campaigns, public pressure on elected officials, political investigations, and in some cases counter-vigilantism.

Although anit-Klan activism was nation-wide, Missouri provides an excellent case study for the rise and fall of the second Klan as the organization gained a large membership and obtained a notable level of political power in some parts of the Show-Me State. Significantly, despite membership totals comparable to that of neighboring states, the Missouri Klan did not translate its recruiting success into substantial influence and political power due to significant local opposition from anti-Klan activists.

Catching Hell from All Quarters addresses key questions about the legacy of the Klan, both in Missouri and nationwide. Traditional scholarship on the second Klan stops at the hooded order's decline at the start of the Great Depression, thus neatly splitting that era's Klan from the Civil Rights Movement era Klan of the 1950s and 1960s. This book, however, draws direct connections between both eras by highlighting continued anti-Klan activism as well as several far-right, fascist, and white supremacist organizations that found support among Klan members (both active and former) during the 1930s and 1940s and aided not only in the Klan's re-emergence after World War II but also influenced present-day hate groups.