I had to read this after watching the fabulous Spike Lee/Jordan Peele movie adaptation on the big screen. The movie blew me away, so I had to get the "Real Story." Well, not too surprisingly, the two are very different. The book tells the events as they happened and the movie is greatly dramatized with fictional events and characters loosely based on the real story.
That's not to say that either the book or the movie suffers! They are both fantastic. The real-life Ron Stallworth was a detective with the Colorado Springs Police Department on the lookout for scams when he saw an ad in the paper inviting people to write in for information about the KKK. He decided to send for the literature to see what the deal was, not realizing it would launch him into a large-scale investigation into the Klan. He received materials by mail, but he also received a telephone call that resulted in him accepting an invitation to join the Klan. As a black man, he had to get another detective to play the "white" Ron Stallworth in his face-to-face meetings with Klan members. The real Ron Stallworth handled most of the phone calls and directed the investigation, which yielded important information for the CSPD, the military, and other organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League, about the membership and plans of the Klan in Colorado. They prevented a number of terrorist acts, such as cross-burnings, by being one step ahead of the Klan.
As I mentioned, I also highly recommend the movie, but remember it is mostly fiction. For the real story, read this book! Unless your name is David Duke, in which case it could be highly humiliating!
That's not to say that either the book or the movie suffers! They are both fantastic. The real-life Ron Stallworth was a detective with the Colorado Springs Police Department on the lookout for scams when he saw an ad in the paper inviting people to write in for information about the KKK. He decided to send for the literature to see what the deal was, not realizing it would launch him into a large-scale investigation into the Klan. He received materials by mail, but he also received a telephone call that resulted in him accepting an invitation to join the Klan. As a black man, he had to get another detective to play the "white" Ron Stallworth in his face-to-face meetings with Klan members. The real Ron Stallworth handled most of the phone calls and directed the investigation, which yielded important information for the CSPD, the military, and other organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League, about the membership and plans of the Klan in Colorado. They prevented a number of terrorist acts, such as cross-burnings, by being one step ahead of the Klan.
As I mentioned, I also highly recommend the movie, but remember it is mostly fiction. For the real story, read this book! Unless your name is David Duke, in which case it could be highly humiliating!
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