History is often more complicated, and sometimes darker and more disturbing, than we learn in our school history textbooks. Just because some topics are more difficult to read about doesn't mean they don't deserve to be explored, and two new fascinating (and YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction finalist!) books bring new light to two such aspects of the America in the Civil Rights era. The first, The Called Themselves the KKK: the Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, explores how the Ku Klux Klan developed in America. Not for the faint of heart, this book draws from personal accounts and other historical documents to paint a vivid picture of the rise of this powerful and brutal group. In Spies of Mississippi: the True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement, Rick Bowers explored once-secret files to tell the story of state spies who tried to block voting rights for African Americans and the brave people who overcame them. Check these books out and learn some history you may not get to learn in school!
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