Terror in the Night: The Klan's Campaign Against the Jews

by Jack Nelson

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist recounts the Ku Klux Klan's terrorizing of Mississippi's Jewish community and the ambush staged by the FBI and the Meridian, Mississippi, police that ended the terror. 25,000 first printing. Tour.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Race, American History, Politics, Antisemitism

287 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Daddio]

If you lived in the South in the sixties, you were part of it. You saw dogs attacking children in Birmingham -- George Wallace, Ross Barnett, and the bombings. A lot of the agitation was blamed on "outside agitators". (Heard that one recently?) The Klan represented the purity of white and how they were Gods chosen.

I was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi at the time, and, when leaving base, had a list of places we could not visit. I was Southern and White, but not trusted by the locals. On base, I met my first black friend, my first Jewish friend, and my first Catholic friend.

IMHO, Mr. Nelson's book is pure journalism -- clearly setting out the FBI's involvement with their bribes and entrapment; the generations of hate inbred with the South. It's still there.
A good read!

[Stan Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the horrible details of the Klan's violence against Jewish people in Mississippi in the 1960s. It is hard to believe that just 50 to 60 years ago racism was so open and horrible. The terrorism of the Klan was accepted by some people. Racism is not gone but it is much diminished from this time period. Over the decades it has been reduced to the point that a predominantly white nation can elect an African American President. It seems that racism might be on the rise again now. A book like this should help us remember the past and learn from it.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an excellent account of the Klan's war against Jews living in Mississippi during the late 1960's and the local police and FBI's efforts to stop them. Exhaustively reported, well-written and engrossing, the details are horrifying and meticulous, with an interesting and inspirational twist at the end. Highly recommended.

[Paul Deane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of the Klan's war on Jews in Mississippi written by an esteemed reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

Note: My uncle, Kenneth Dean was the Baptist minister and civil rights organizer in the book.
Warning: Spoiler mentioned in the review.

A Mississippi klansman attending a national gathering of the Klan with a group of his fellow Mississippians realizes that the Klan categorizes Jews with Blacks and has a terror campaign ongoing in Mississippi. Leaders in the Mississippi Jewish community organize and fight back. Through national political connections the FBI is assigned by Hoover end the terror campaign against the Jewish community. They are mostly successful in this mission except for a small cell of Klan assassins.

The FBI and the community leaders lure the two Klan bombers into a trap in which one dies and the other is critically injured but survives.

I highly recommend this excellent reporting on the Mississippi Klan which exposes a chapter in civil rights history not usually mentioned in most histories of the period. The book reads like a suspense novel.

[Joels Davidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book. Riveting.