Customer Reviews

The Invisible Empire: Ku Klux Klan

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Wonderful book. I had seen some of the images in a magazine a year or two ago, but when you see all the images together it is a quite chilling experience. It shows how mundane evil is.

In its hey-day, the KKK could put 40,000 Klansmen in the streets of Washington, D.C. The modern-day Klan is but a shadow of its former self, being made up of various splinter groups. Photojournalist Anthony Karen was able to gain the trust of officials of the Imperial Klans of America and the Knights Party in order to document the activities of those groups. The result is this 112-page photo-essay, a 2009 release from PowerHouse Books that is, by turns, fascinating, repellent, scary and sad.

Karen's book is divided into sections on Gatherings; Protests and Demonstrations; a Cross Lighting Ceremony; Portraits of various Klan members male and female; the Knights Party/Thomas Robb Ministry; a Klan Wedding; the Imperial Klans of America; etc. The black-and-white images capture various activities - initiations, picnics, cross-burnings, Klan members having target practice, marches and protests, Klan members/skinheads acting up, etc.

While some might view the photographs in THE INVISIBLE EMPIRE, KU KLUX KLAN as frightening, they actually cut the other way. They depict what pollsters would term 'marginalized individuals.' Judging by Karen's stark images, something drained many of them of the milk of human kindness year's ago. In terms of being a force in America, Karen's images show that they're lucky to get a half-dozen members when they stage a demonstration. A cross-burning - or "cross-lighting" as Klan members would have it - draw a couple dozen. These people talk about "dispelling darkness and ignorance" but, for Pete's sake, they can't even spell the word "immigration" (i.e "Join the Fight to Stop Illegal Imagration)."

Since Americans are guaranteed the right to express themselves as they wish, the men and women found in THE INVISIBLE EMPIRE can do what they will. What is terribly saddening about Karen's book are the photographs of their children decked out in a Klan outfit and proudly posing with Pappa, giving a Heil Hitler salute and so on. The saddest image in the book is a shot of a Klan member holding his sleeping son. The pride and love are evident in the man's face. How terrible that such sweet, innocent minds will be twisted into those of hate-mongering nihilists

In short, THE INVISIBLE EMPIRE casts an unflinching - and ultimately unflattering - insider's portrait of those who follow the Klan. It should be required reading for anyone interested in - or worried about - the fringe groups that exist in American society. Recommended.

I received this volume today, March 25th. It is largely a photographic study. My specialty as a "Military Writer" is political and racial violence. This is the best photo-journalist book on the topic I have ever seen. If pictures are worth a thouand words, the author , Mr. Karen, has captured seething hatred and a scary world with incredible finesse. Excellent!

Offers an interesting vision into the workings of the Ku Klux Klan for people who are not even American.

Wasn't expecting a Klan friendly book. Saw the book for the first time in Kentucky at the Ika Hq, and knew I had to have my own copy. Great photography, great script and all around very pleased.