by Daryl Davis
Reviews and Quotes
“His approach seems to have worked”
The Baltimore Sun
“I have a lot of respect for Daryl”
Roger Kelly – Former KKK Imperial Wizard
“I’m proud to be a friend of Daryl Davis”
Robert White – Former KKK Grand Dragon
“Davis has made it his business to meet people who hate him.”
The Washington Post
“The book world has never seen anything like this!”
KLAN-DESTINE RELATIONSHIPS is among the most powerful non-fiction books written to date, dealing with the most violent and feared American terrorist group of the last 150 years.
Author Daryl Davis has come in closer contact with KKK members than most White non-members and certainly most Blacks, short of being on the wrong end of a hanging rope at a lynching. Davis walks on the edge with one foot often dangling over the precipice, daring to set up meetings with Klan leaders who are unaware that he is Black! Numerous articles have been written by Blacks about their often terrible encounters with the Ku Klux Klan. This is the first book written about the KKK by a Black man who encountered, confronted and befriended numerous Klan members, conquering their ideology!
Filled with precariously exciting encounters and amusing anecdotes, KLAN-DESTINE RELATIONSHIPS is an informative and invaluable tool which no American should be without in today’s racially divided yet highly diverse society. Readers of all races are forced to confront and overcome their own latent and overt prejudices and fears, by learning how one Black man’s quest made loyal friends out of sworn enemies!
Daryl Davis is a graduate of Howard University. In addition to being an author, he is also a lecturer, professional musician and actor. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Daryl Davis now resides in Montgomery County, Maryland.
From Ann Arbor News – Ann Arbor Michigan:
“Klan Interviewer Earns His Right To Preach”
The title, book jacket illustration and even the concept behind Daryl Davis’ first book scan like a bad episode of “Jenny Jones.” Guess what? It’s fascinating.
Davis, who is black makes a good living as a journeyman boogie blues pianist and he was at the keys when Bill Clinton was blowing his saxophone on “Arsenio.” But a gnawing question has never been far from his mind: What makes some white people hate blacks so much — to the point where they want to join one of the numerous and widely divergent hate groups know as the Ku Klux Klan? At all points in “Klan-Destine Relationships,” Davis approaches his quest for information with equally impressive helpings of honesty, good humor and huge reserves of sheer nerve. His book follows him as wheedles which he probes point-blank how their lives and views have led them to the Klan.
Davis never “spins” their rationalizations. He just lets his subjects talk, and invariably the wounded, confused and fearful psyches under the bluster are laid bare. Davis consistently approaches each of his subjects as individuals; some he comes to respect and even like. Usually, one would feel patronized by a concluding chapter like the one here, in which Davis expresses hope his book will inspire others to study their own biases. Instead, it’s an effective plea. The man has earned his right to preach.
Bruce Martin, News Entertainment Editor