Book Analysis - HST 261 - American History since 1865 - LibGuides at Morehead State University

A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan
ISBN: 9780735225268

Publication Date: 2023-04-04

The Roaring Twenties - the Jazz Age - has been characterized as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confederacy, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants in equal measure, and took radical steps to keep these people from the American promise. And the man who set in motion their takeover of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D.C. Stephenson. Stephenson was a magnetic presence whose life story changed with every telling. Within two years of his arrival in Indiana, he d become the Grand Dragon of the state and the architect of the strategy that brought the group out of the shadows - their message endorsed from the pulpits of local churches, spread at family picnics and town celebrations. Judges, prosecutors, ministers, governors and senators across the country all proudly proclaimed their membership. But at the peak of his influence, it was a seemingly powerless woman - Madge Oberholtzer - who would reveal his secret cruelties, and whose deathbed testimony finally brought the Klan to their knees. A Fever in the Heartland marries a propulsive drama to a powerful and page-turning reckoning with one of the darkest threads in American history.

Book Analysis (Oral Presentation) Instructions

1. Groups of two to three will record their analysis of the book A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan in a PowerPoint/Canva persentation. Students will identify the author's thesis, main arguments, and supporting evidence.

2. Read the book, considering:

Author & Context: Who is the author, Timothy Egan? What is his field or research specialty?
Thesis: What is the central argument of the book?
Main Arguments: What supporting points does the author make?
Evidence: What kind of sources (both primary and secondary) does the author use to make their arguments?
Significance: Why is this book important for understanding American hsitory, or how did it change your view of the 1920s?

3. Present

Need Works Cited Page in presenation
7-8 minutes
Every group member must contribute in the oral presentation, as well as in the creation of the presentation
Minimum of two peer-reviewed secondary sources acquired from the library
Acknowledge use of AI, which should be limited to
- brainstorming
- summarizing an article's thesis and main arguments
- Generating sample audience questions

Questions to Consider when Analyzing

Who is the author?
What is the author's personal and professional background?
What other works has the author published?
What is the author's thesis or argument? (Read the introduction carefully to find the thesis.)
What makes this work different from similar works ont he topic?
How is the book structured or organized?
What kinds of primary sources does the author use to make his case?
Think about questions about the content of the era:
- How did the K.K.K. cosolidate their power in the 1920s?
- How did the fforts of the K.K.K. affect the overall development of U.S. law, immigration policy, etc.?
- How did people who opposed the Klan fight back?
- How did the book change or inform your opinions about the 1920s or race relations in general in American history?

Secondary Sources

ALMA for CCL at MSU
ALMA is the main discovery interface, for all types of materials, for the library at Morehead State University.
WorldCat
Is a worldwide online union catalog that offers bibliographic and holdings information for thousands of libraries. Each item in the database not held in the library at MSU can be easily obtained by using the 'Request it' button.

Subject Coverage:
covers countless subjects
Dates of Coverage:
1000 C.E. to present
Update Frequency:
daily
Size:
more than 548 million item records
more than 3.3 billion holdings records
Note:
It includes manuscripts written as early as the 11th century as well as books cataloged yesterday. It would be a challenge to name a book that would not have a record in this database. Numerous journal articles are also available through WorldCat.

HST 261 - American History since 1865

Peer Review

Chicago Style Citation Guides

Book Analysis (Oral Presentation) Instructions

Questions to Consider when Analyzing

Secondary Sources