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.

About the Author :
Sean Rost, Assistant Director, Research at the State Historical Society of Missouri, earned his PhD from the University of Missouri-Columbia and specializes in twentieth-century U.S. and Missouri history. He also holds a master's degree in history from Lincoln University and a bachelor's degree in history education from William Woods University. Prior to joining the State Historical Society of Missouri as an Oral Historian, he taught at Columbia College-Jefferson City, William Woods University, Westminster College, and the University of Missouri-Columbia.  

Review :
“Sean Rost’s study of Missouri’s anti-Klan activists expands outward to the core of America’s long struggle with difference and democracy. With deep research in primary sources, Rost tells the enthralling story of Catholic organizers, newspaper editors, African American leaders, politicians, and others who turned the spotlight on the most nefarious organization in American history—an organization whose dark ideals remain with us today.” —James H. Madison, Indiana University, author of The Klux Klan in the Heartland   “Sean Rost’s important book adds to the growing scholarship about the 1920s Ku Klux Klan in individual states. Missouri, in particular, deserves a close look given its location in the heartland, where the Klan had its greatest appeal among small-town, Protestant, white, native-born people. Rost’s analysis is particularly original, moreover, with its focus on the resolute opposition to the Klan among Catholic, Jewish, Black, and immigrant Missourians in St. Louis, Kansas City, and the ethnic enclaves scattered around the state.” —Kenneth C. Barnes, University of Central Arkansas, author of The Ku Klux Klan in 1920s Arkansas: How Protestant White Nationalism Came to Rule a State   “Catching Hell from All Quarters is a timely tale of how Black, Catholic, Jewish, and fair-minded white protestant Missourians stood up to a lawless but politically powerful white nationalist movement in the 1920s and after. Rost's finely-crafted social and political history of the conflicted coalition that helped thwart the Ku Klux Klan and kindred groups is essential reading for those interested in the accounts of courageous citizens fighting for democracy and the rule of law.” —Jarod Roll, University of Mississippi, author of Poor Man’s Fortune: White Working-Class Conservatism in American Metal Mining, 1850-1950    “Sean Rost’s thoroughly researched new history is a valuable addition to the literature, a valiant effort at shifting focus in studies of the racist and nativist interwar Ku Klux Klan movement to forefront those working to counter the Klan.”—Missouri Historical Review   "An original, seminal, and groundbreaking study . . . . A deftly crafted and impressively informative study that is thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Catching Hell from All Quarters: Anti-Klan Activists in Interwar Missouri" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, community, and college/university library 20th Century American History and Klu Klux Klan History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists."—Midwest Book Review