Keeping Canada British: The Ku Klux Klan in 1920s Saskatchewan
Keeping Canada British is accessibly written, though at times slips distract- ingly into the language of popular psy- chology, the rise of the kkk, for instance, explained in terms of "survivor guilt," part of a wider "grieving process" for the British Canadian war dead. (11) We...
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| Published in: | Labour 2014, Vol.74 (74), p.350-353 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Review |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Keeping Canada British is accessibly written, though at times slips distract- ingly into the language of popular psy- chology, the rise of the kkk, for instance, explained in terms of "survivor guilt," part of a wider "grieving process" for the British Canadian war dead. (11) We learn of "Klan members' innate paranoia" and "paranoid delusion," so too, their indulgent satisfaction of "the martyr complex, which the Klan had in spades." (201) Whilst none of this sits particularly comfortably, it at least only peppers, rath- er than defines, the analysis. Meanwhile, [James M. Pitsula]'s ability to meticulously scruti- nize the organization suffers (in common with many studies of secretive orders) from patchy primary source material. Membership lists in the Saskatchewan archives, he admits, are "sketchy and in- complete" and of unknown origin, (105) whilst newspaper coverage - and in some cases a distinct lack of it - was very much dependent upon the political leanings of local small-town editors. (91) Still, the au- thor has made an admirable reconstruc- tion job using the newspaper sources he does have at his disposal, in combination with archived political papers, Klan pub- lications, and past studies. |
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| ISSN: | 0700-3862 1911-4842 |