I also eventually ordered the book I avoided in Annapolis. The Practice of Klannishness offers a tidy lesson. We think of the Klan as the violent thugs of history, because they were. But the familiarity of their ethos should shake us to awareness. Their practice was described as generous, family-oriented, and respectable. The Klan is so very American. We are used to making virtue out of shameful ways. And justifying brutality for the sake of virtue. It is easy to see the deception with the Klan, but imagine all the other ways those habits are made manifest in our culture.
