My 8th grader is racing through this book and really enjoying it-I hope to read it next.

I've read a lot about the history of comic books, so I was already familiar with pretty much everything written about that side of things up to and including the KKK episodes of the Superman radio show. And seeing how the author simplified and summarized that material made me a little dubious about how much I was really learning about the history of the Ku Klux Klan.

And then in the closing pages, the author admits that the impact of the radio broadcasts on stopping a contemporary revival of the KKK may have been minimal at best and was greatly exaggerated by a self-aggrandizing and sensationalizing journalist. Now I just feel like I've bamboozled by a thin book with a catchy title. ( )

Superman Versus the Ku Klux Klan: The True Story of How the Iconic Superhero Battled the Men of Hate by Richard Bowers is a young adult non-fiction work that chronicles the rise of Superman and promotes the idea that this super hero was created as a protector figure for oppressed people around the world. The book is aimed at middle school to junior high school age students and has a corresponding reading level. It introduces young adults to the most prominent figures in the development of Superman as a comic book icon and to the people who lead the crusade against the Ku Klux Klan. This is definitely a book with a message and that message is that the common person can stand up against hate and prevail. It is short and to the point, but that is understandable given that the topic is very limited. The author brings in enough outside information to put things in context of history and culture and that will enhance understanding on many levels for young people. In my mind it has lots of classroom uses, but I will leave that to the teachers to figure out. It is the kind of book that is going to appeal to young readers grades 5 - 9 and is packed full of information that students that age are going to eat up. This age group needs more of this kind of non-fiction. ( )

This is a fascinating book. For teenagers and adults, it's really a "double" history of both Superman and the Ku Klux Klan. I was a little disappointed that the two parties didn't actually "battle" until almost the end of the book, and when they did, it was a bit anti-climactic. There was really only one chapter devoted to what is advertised on the front of the book. That said, the book does a good job of telling the history, as well as putting it in the context of the Jewish backgrounds of Superman's creators. ( )

Despite the title of the book, the author does not get to that particular subject until over three-quarters of the way through and then not a whole lot is said about it. Leading up is some nicely detailed and very interesting history of the evolution of Superman, comic books, and the Ku Klux Klan. Susan Campbell Bartoletti offers a much better overview of Klan history in They Called Themselves the KKK, but Bowers gives a good deal of attention to a fascinating character named Stetson Kennedy. A letdown in many respects but still worthwhile. ( )