Klan-destine Relationships: A Black Man's Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan

While marching in a cub-scout parade, young Daryl Davis was pelted by rocks and bottles. As a teenager he was told he would be shipped back to Africa. Driven by an intense need to understand those who hate him because of the colour of his skin, Davis decided to seek out the roots of racism. This often dangerous journey took him to the very heart of the fanatical and infamous Ku Klux Klan and he finds that the Klan is active in many areas of modern America - not just in the Deep South. The Grammy award winning pianist and author meets with Roger Kelly, Imperial Wizard of the Invincible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Over several meetings, the two slowly form as close a friendship as a black man and a Klansman can. Through Kelly and others, Davis infiltrates the Klan, gaining real insight into its workings and its member's minds. Using music to cross a seemingly unbridgeable racial divide, the author travels an uncharted road filled with gripping highs and lows. Among them: bringing the Imperial Wizard to meet a black woman upon whose lawn a cross was burned, seeking out a self-proclaimed White Supremacist Grand Klaliff who, while claiming not to believe in violence, issues Davis a warning of race war with "your uniform the colour of your skin". He is attacked by two Klanswomen, but is defended in court by a Klansman. Throughout his investigation, Davis treads a fine line - on the one hand he is spat upon, kicked and threatened, and on the other, given a standing ovation at a Klan rally and deeded robes by those who decided to leave the organisation. Davis'courageous quest into the heart of ignorance and hatred delivers a ray of hope for harmony between the races and the future of humankind.