Gugliotta draws heavily on firsthand accounts of Klan members and their victims taken from diaries, newspaper accounts, court records and congressional testimony to turn what could have been a dry procedural into a historical page-turner with the riveting impact of a novel.--Richard Sisk "Military.com"

A vivid account of one of the more ignoble episodes in American history--the Ku Klux Klan's terrorist campaign aimed at denying recently emancipated slaves the liberty, citizenship, and right to vote supposedly guaranteed
by the Reconstruction constitutional amendments. Gugliotta gives the long-neglected attorney general
Amos T. Akerman his due as a courageous opponent of the Klan, and he gives President Ulysses S. Grant credit for using the power of the federal government to crush--unfortunately temporarily--the Klan. Violent resistance to democratic elections, politicians deploying base racism for partisan gain, refusal to accept the equal citizenship of African Americans--the story told here reminds us of the fragility of our freedoms, a lesson all too relevant in modern-day America.

A terrific read. The narrative is riveting, and Gugliotta's brisk writing moves the plot, explains complicated political realities in accessible language, and gets the reader into the minds of the many characters swirling around the book's explosive setting.--Jane Dailey "author of White Fright: The Sexual Panic at the Heart of America's Racist History"

In this meticulously researched, innovatively written book, Guy Gugliotta tells a powerful story about the rise of the KKK and the surprising efforts of a former slaveholder to repress it. Gugliotta's 's exhaustive excavation of a dizzying array of stunning sources enables him to reconstruct dialogue between various people from the past, adding an impressive narrative flare to this book. By providing a snapshot of an untold moment in the postwar South, Grant's Enforcer makes a significant contribution to Civil War-era studies and will appeal to a broader reading public.--Jim Downs "author of Maladies of Empire: How Colonialism, Slavery, and War Transformed Medicine"

This is the beguiling story of Georgian Amos Akerman, who pushed back against the rise of the Klan, as white-hooded vigilantes struggled to eliminate black rights and to celebrate the South as solely a white man's country. With a novelistic eye for detail, Guy Gugliotta leads the reader through the tumultuous Reconstruction era by offering up voices of resistance, by compelling us to reckon with the 'what might have been' in history. He captures a wide cast of characters, but none more compelling nor tragic than Akerman and his neglected career. This is a timely tale of heroism in the face of white supremacy and rhetoric laced with violence.--Catherine Clinton "author of Mrs. Lincoln: A Life"

Other books on Reconstruction have references to Akerman. But nothing known to this reviewer offers such a comprehensive portrait of the role that this man played in destroying the Klan...Gugliotta's work gives a glimpse not only at what was achieved, but at what might have been.--Kevin C. Donovan "Emerging Civil War"