Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime
    Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime
    Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime
    Audiobook5 hours

    Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime

    Written by Ron Stallworth

    Narrated by Ron Stallworth

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The #1 New York Times Bestseller!

    This extraordinary true story, read by the author, is the basis for the Academy Award winning film BlacKkKlansman, written and directed by Spike Lee, produced by Jordan Peele, and starring John David Washington and Adam Driver.

    When detective Ron Stallworth, the first black detective in the history of the Colorado Springs Police Department, comes across a classified ad in the local paper asking for all those interested in joining the Ku Klux Klan to contact a P.O. box, Detective Stallworth does his job and responds with interest, using his real name while posing as a white man. He figures he’ll receive a few brochures in the mail, maybe even a magazine, and learn more about a growing terrorist threat in his community.

    A few weeks later the office phone rings, and the caller asks Ron a question he thought he’d never have to answer, “Would you like to join our cause?” This is 1978, and the KKK is on the rise in the United States. Its Grand Wizard, David Duke, has made a name for himself, appearing on talk shows, and major magazine interviews preaching a “kinder” Klan that wants nothing more than to preserve a heritage, and to restore a nation to its former glory.

    Ron answers the caller’s question that night with a yes, launching what is surely one of the most audacious, and incredible undercover investigations in history. Ron recruits his partner Chuck to play the "white" Ron Stallworth, while Stallworth himself conducts all subsequent phone conversations. During the months-long investigation, Stallworth sabotages cross burnings, exposes white supremacists in the military, and even befriends David Duke himself.

    Black Klansman is an amazing true story that unfolds like a crime thriller, and a searing portrait of a divided America and the extraordinary heroes who dare to fight back.

    Editor's Note

    Infiltrating the KKK…

    “BlacKkKlansman” has a pretty incredible premise — all the more so because it’s rooted in reality. The story of Ron Stallworth, a black cop, infiltrating the KKK in the ’70s is as relevant to the issues of today as it is to our recent past. The film version won for best adapted screenplay at the Academy Awards.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJun 5, 2018
    ISBN9781250299352
    Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime
    Author

    Ron Stallworth

    Ron Stallworth is a highly decorated, law enforcement veteran, who worked undercover narcotics, vice, criminal intelligence and organized crime beats in four states. As the first black detective in the history of the Colorado Springs Police Department, Ron overcame fierce racial hostility to achieve a long and distinguished career in law enforcement. He is the author of the memoir Black Klansman.

    Related to Black Klansman

    Related audiobooks

    Biography & Memoir For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      ‘They Put Two Contracts Out On Me’: Going Undercover With The Pagan Motorcycle Club

      Mar 21, 2022

      We live, thanks to the coronavirus, in the age of the Zoom interview. But not this time. Ken Croke does not want to be on camera so the words “Ken’s iPhone XR” appear on a black background instead. Nor does he disclose where he lives or where he is s

      6 min read

    • Article

      Murder He Wrote

      Jan 1, 2021

      Murder He Wrote
      12 min read

    • Article

      We Have Always Been In Crisis

      Jun 26, 2020

      We Have Always Been In Crisis
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Hard Road To Equality

      Sep 1, 2019

      The Hard Road To Equality
      9 min read

    • Article

      This Week In Race: Dave Says Sorry, Coin Controversy, Health Hazards Of Segregation

      May 19, 2017

      Oh, Code Switch fam: Has there ever been such a week? Because of the virtual smorgasbord of unfortunate news, you may have skipped putting these on your plate. Dig in. Keep a chaser of Pepto handy. In policing, it's feeling like a lethal version of G

      3 min read

    • Article

      Last Call For Gumshoes

      Sep 29, 2020

      Last Call For Gumshoes
      20 min read

    • Article

      A Great Moment In Black History

      Aug 14, 2018

      And now here's this week's episode of Great Moments in Black History. The year is 1979. Jimmy Carter is in office, disco is on the radio and Ron Stallworth has just joined the Ku Klux Klan. We are indebted to the Deseret Morning News, of Salt Lake Ci

      2 min read

    • Article

      Words to Live By

      Jun 25, 2018

      Words to Live By
      6 min read

    • Article

      Enduring Message Of Nonviolence Reaches New Audiences

      Feb 29, 2024

      Clarence B. Jones is preaching nonviolence.  At 93, this civil rights pioneer, who helped the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. write his “I Have a Dream” speech, is still combating hate. But these days, instead of leading protest meetings, Mr. Jones is re

      3 min read

    • Article

      Police Brutality Drove a Wedge Between Me and My Church

      Apr 12, 2018

      “I still believe that the congregation has some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Unfortunately, there were limits to that warmth that I could not abide.”

      4 min read

    • Article

      Bobby Seale

      Oct 8, 2016

      The Black Panthers co-founder, whose new book marks the 50th anniversary of the party’s establishment, talks about guns, Trump and Obama

      2 min read

    • Article

      Letter to My Son

      Jul 4, 2015

      Letter to My Son
      30 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Black Klansman

    3.5/5

    250 ratings18 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      Stopped before I could get halfway through. Stallworth's voice & reading is awful. I'll just read it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      this book is very interesting. it is not only comical it is historical and eye opening. my own experiences had shaped me to go against the KKK. it did not however shape other family members to reject their philosophy. I will argue the ignorance of this thinking to my dying day. the book has given me more insight than any research I've done on my own. thank you Ron for your contribution. I hope someday to meet you.
    • 1/5
      The writing is atrocious, and the narration is worse. The narration is honestly unintelligible at times, which definitely affected the enjoyment of this book. The story itself is kind of underwhelming too.
    • 5/5
      Extremely intriguing book! It contained great historical facts. I’m glad I read it.
    • 5/5
      Great story! This story covers the author's entry into police work at a time when old prejudices and injustices were moved aside. Through his hard work and willingness to step up when asked he soon moved to the next challenge. He then was presented with the opportunity to gather intelligence and hinder the efforts of two hate groups, one being the KKK. At times this story is even funny due to the irony.
      The covers the complete investigation and its abrupt end.
      Unfortunately, at the end, he decided to throw anyone in support of border control policy and punishment of immigration violation into the same camp as those old KKK members, which seems like a huge leap.

      Well written book. The performance was also very good. a+++
    • 5/5
      Shocking, compelling, hilarious, and sadly still relevant to our time.
    • 4/5
      If there's a downside to this book, it's that Stallworth's issues with anti-racist activism could really be explored further. Like most works that cover hate groups, there's a lot of false equivalency applied to people working for civil rights because they upset law enforcement sensibilities.

      "It was as if Dennis the menace was running a hate group."

      The meat of this story though, Stallworth's infiltration of the KKK, oh my! On one hand, you want to laugh at the buffoonery of David Duke and his co-conspirators. On the other, the terror of the Klan is that they somehow manage to survive and succeed in their terrorism despite their idiocy.

      If nothing else, you come out of Black Klansman deeply aware that the powers that be do not take racist hate groups seriously enough. If a lone municipal investigator like Stallworth could comprehensively discombobulate regional Klan activity, why aren't more resources applied to hack such cancerous growth back to the root?
    • 5/5
      Almost unbelievable, except it is a memoir. Worth reading.
    • 3/5
      I have yet to see the movie, or even see the trailer, but saw this at the library and was immediately intrigued. And while its all true and very interesting, so much of this just feels.... flat... boring, and inconsequential.

      Zero arrests are made because of this investigation/case. Were some terrorist activities stopped? Yes. Cross burnings were stopped. (On one or two occasions).

      There is a fair bit of hyperbole that goes on with this story though. Ron Stallworth, as a black man, never actually infiltrated the KKK. He gained a by-the-mail/over-the-telephone membership into the KKK. He used a partner, Chuck, a white man, to actually infiltrate the KKK. And later, sadly, as easy as Officer Ed's insertion into the case shows, it could have been even SIMPLER than what they did. And probably 1) safer, and 2) less chance/risk of detection, if they did something that Officer Ed did. As it seemed the KKK were willing to have Officers and Policemen in their ranks. (They had a fire chief as a higher up). So by Ron Stallworth actually being in it, and using his own name, it actually ADDED a level of problems for the police, and added layers of cover up needed unnecessarily.

      Is it fun having a black man in the KKK? And a stick it to the man type of thing? Most certainly.

      And this is an interesting story, but sadly, so much of this is hyperbole. Its definitely nothing on the level of some undercover cops who infiltrated the Mafia/Mafiaso or mobs (like Joe Pistone as Donnie Brasco, who even nearly became a made man); and with the way this investigation abruptly ends, even less came of it than maybe could have.

      There's even a day-ending coda on the day the investigation shut down where a cross WAS burned; which Stallworth attempts to take as a sign that the investigation should not have been cancelled. He also states that it wasn't apparent and unreported. Sadly this is also all tied up in what is a messy business showing the shallow and thin side of the civil rights groups, and shows a bit of muddying of the waters, in that they were actively attempting to defend a 15-year old who admitted he wanted to kill a person just to kill someone, and they were willing to defend the 15-year old solely on the fact that he was black; and not of his character (which if that were the case; due to the kid's character, they would/should have been as far from it as possible).

      The writing style for the book is also lacking sadly. Numerous times he repeats things, even going so far as going out of his way to repeat unnecessary things to broaden the appeal of what's going on or even push-out his ego a bit more. Also, some things don't add up and seem a bit incredulous, which might be a bit of the appeal of it all, but does point out the incredulity of it all. And with him losing the Polaroid, and having to destroy evidence due to this Chief, there's no backing some of this up, especially since it all occurred ~35-40 years ago.

      Still probably worth a read for anyone interested in these kinds of topics, and there is some humorous anecdotes in the book, but sadly for the most part it's all kind of just a big "there" and easily could be summed up in a few sentences:

      "Black man calls KKK, gets membership card. Uses real name and is technically a KKK member. Uses white co-worker undercover agent to infiltrate the KKK. They stop cross burnings. They talk to David Duke. They protect David Duke from protesters. Investigation is abruptly halted."

      And you could shrug and go, "ok, I get the gist of it, sounds interesting but doesn't sound like a whole lot there", and move on.
    • 3/5
      This is a memoir by a Black policeman who, in the late 1970s, led an undercover investigation of the Colorado Springs chapter of the KKK. After spotting a newspaper ad for the nascent Colorado Springs KKK chapter, Ron Stallworth was offered the chance to join the group. Working with a white police detective who played Stallworth for face-to-face meetings with Klan members, Stallworth became an official card-carrying member of the hate group and led an investigation into the Klan and related racially-fueled hate groups in Colorado and more broadly.This book was definitely eye-opening to me in its depiction of the (mostly) modern KKK's ideology, and that of related groups. While I am of course aware of the KKK and its role in American history, I didn't know much about it after the Civil Rights era. I found this book very informative in that regard, and it was also interesting to read about the somewhat fragmented anti-KKK response at the time of Stallworth's investigation.There's an inherent darkly humorous element in Stallworth's story of a Black man spearheading an undercover investigation of the KKK, and I'm definitely glad that Stallworth has shared his story. The writing of the book isn't the best, which is too bad, but the main points are definitely clear. I found this book completely on a whim in my library's eaudio catalog, and I'm definitely happy that I did.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book and Stallworth's retelling of his investigation into the Klan in Colorado Springs. A great look at how the KKK operated in the 1970's (and probably still today) and how the determination and ingenuity of one Black police detective had a major impact on Klan activities. At times humorous, and often reflective, Stallworth's narrative is quite informative and is well worth the read.
    • 3/5
      This book was fairly well written, though he did get repetitive a few times. Having listened to the audio book I always seem to note reputation more than when I read dead trees. This audio book not having good transitions from CD to CD also can lead to it being halfway the second time through Track 1 before I realize I'm back in track 1 and he's not just being repetitive again. It wasn't as exciting nor humors as I had expected it to be. A lot of what it is was over reaching big government police getting into to private citizens life. The KKK is an awful organization and from Stallworth's story most of them are idiots. The part where Stallworth talks about having to be a body guard for David Duke as himself a black cop, rather than as the undercover "white" guy he's been talking to on the phone for months. I am left wondering what Duke and others involved thought once this book was release
    • 3/5
      Interesting detailing of an undercover cop's interaction with the KKK in Colorado. Clearly written, but not not much style added to the facts.
    • 3/5
      This nonfiction book about the KKK presence in Colorado Springs, and to a lesser extent, to Colorado in general was fascinating to me. I wasn't blown away by the writing because there was nothing special about it. The author was a cop, a detective, in Colorado Springs, and when he happened to see an ad in the Gazette Telegraph for the KKK, he started an undercover investigation, a bit inadvertently.For me, this book was especially interesting because I lived in Colorado Springs during the time the book covers, and I had no idea that the KKK faction was so strong. I also enjoyed reading about some of the local landmarks I knew.I wanted to read this book before I watched the Spike Lee movie (Blackkklansman), and I did watch the movie right after finishing the book. Mr. Lee took some liberties with the story, some rather drastic ones, but the movie was more entertaining than the book although not as factually enlightening. If you choose to read this book, read it for the story, not for the quality of the writing.
    • 4/5
      This is a little book, literally and figuratively. Not much goes on here. It's not going to win any literary prizes. But the author does a great job explaining a fascinating event in his undercover cop career and he provides a good summary the project's modest accomplishments (assisting other agencies, preventing cross burnings). A worthy read.
    • 4/5
      Although I appreciated the overall story Ron Stallworth contributed, I did not necessarily love the writing style and flow of Black Klansman. I felt the memoir could have been shorter and less repetitive (perhaps a more beneficial book for younger readers). Regardless, Stallworth's infiltration into the KKK as a black detective in the 70's was fascinating and praiseworthy. Through the memoir, I was able to learn more about how the Ku Klux Klan was started - especially in Colorado. My favorite part was when Stallworth was placed as David Duke's bodyguard (some poetic justice if you ask me). So, even though the book was not a favorite of mine, I could recognize the value and importance of Stallworth's undercover sting. I LOVED the movie, which was written and directed by Spike Lee and produced by Jordan Peele.
    • 4/5
      “A black cop infiltrating the Klan? This is nuts.”And it really kind of is! The author gets into the Klan, talks to the Grand Wizard on a regular basis, and even works as their bodyguard! It's an amazing story, and I'm glad I read it before I saw the film! F&#@ the Klan and David Duke!Regarding David Duke’s election as a Republican, “The conservative right-wing Republican agenda was then and still is much more in sync with white, hate-fueled racist extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan.” Boy, is that the truth! Especially now-2018 under Grand Wizard Trump!It’s funny, toward the end of the book, I was wondering what the point of the investigation was, aside from information gathering. And then Stallworth dropped this quote-“Success often lies not in what happens but in what you prevent from happening.” Bam! And, “This was an intelligence investigation, not a criminal investigation resulting in no charges.”No charges, but pretty damn amazing, and at times hilarious, story!
    • 2/5
      I really wanted to like this book, but I just didn't. I mean, how could a memoir about Colorado Springs' first African-American police officer going undercover to infiltrate the Klan be anything except interesting? Well, somehow, the author made it that way. The writing style was just bad - not engaging at all, and there was absolutely no suspense. I never found myself worrying that the police officers who were involved in the sting would be found out. The author spent half of the book pretty much saying "hahaha Klan members are dumb" (which, I mean, most of them are, but I could only take so much of this reiteration) and the other half airing personal grudges that were over forty years old (meh). And I kind of left the book wondering what, exactly, had been accomplished. The author must have known that the readers would wonder that, because he tried to explain what the investigation had accomplished. They maybe prevented a cross burning. Yep, that's it. There were never any arrests, no charges brought, nothing seized from the Colorado Springs Klan. Maybe a cross burning was prevented - or should I say delayed, because there was one shortly after the investigation was pulled. So, yeah. A bit underwhelming, to say the least.I'd not recommend the book. Hopefully the movie is more interesting.