UNMASKED! The Rise & Fall of the 1920s Ku Klux Klan by Ann Patton tells the gripping tale of the roaring '20s KKK, its mesmerizing young leader David Curtis Stephenson, his rise to soaring power, and the brutal rape and murder that killed his Klan empire.

This true crime book of non-fiction political history reads like a fiction thriller and offers important lessons for our time. Throngs of Americans rallied at the feet of Grand Dragon Stephenson, a blond charmer who was marketing hate and violence as political weapons, with vast fiscal rewards. Shrewdly, he was melding his followers into a polished political machine that could not be stopped.

At its height, the movement captured the loyalty of millions around the nation, and it worked like magic-for a while. But Stephenson stumbled on his way to the White House and his empire crumbled, tarnishing all it touched.