Not by the Sword tells the inspiring true story of how a Jewish cantor and his family changed the life of a virulent white supremacist leader. This riveting account begins in 1991, when Cantor Michael Weisser received his first threatening phone call from Larry Trapp, Grand Dragon of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Nebraska. But Cantor Weisser and his wife, Julie, refused to be intimidated by Trapp's escalating threats. Instead, they made a stunning offer of friendship. After an emotional confrontation with the Weissers, Trapp shocked everyone-including himself-by resigning from the KKK and breaking his ties with other neo-Nazi leaders. Not by the Sword recounts Larry Trapp's life as a racist, his startling transformation in response to the Weissers' kindness, and his subsequent crusade to redeem his past. Kathryn Watterson movingly describes how one family feared, fought, and then forgave a man who had tried to destroy them. This gripping tale gives the reader an inside view of hate mongering and offers a powerful testament to the triumph of the human spirit and the transforming power of love and tolerance.
Kathryn Watterson teaches creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the award-winning author of eight books, including You Must Be Dreaming (basis of the NBC movie Betrayal of Trust) and Women in Prison (basis of the ABC documentary Women in Prison).
Preface to the Bison Books EditionPrefacePrologue: The Place and the People1: Sunday Morning2: A Heartland Community3: The KKK is Watching4: Dragon's Lair5: Vigilante Voices6: A Disease of Fear7: Broken Beyond Healing8: Heil White Power9: Hitler's First Laws10: You May Be Next11: Ricocheting Hatred12: Ring of Fire13: Face to Face14: Unmasking the Dragon15: Befriending the Enemy16: Whoever Shuns Evil17: Help Me Understand18: Flick of a Tail19: Working Miracles20: Amazing Grace21: A Family's Vision22: Atonement23: "Hear, O Israel . . ."24: The Trainman's Tracks25: Healing Truths26: Crown of an Honorable ManNotes and SourcesBibliographyAcknowledgmentsIndex
Offers a powerful testament to the triumph of the human spirit and the transforming power of love and tolerance
"This rare investigation of American hate-mongering provides a unique glimpse as well at the power of tolerance and love. Once Watterson places us inside the Lincoln, Nebraska, apartment of the 'Klansman' of the subtitle, it's almost impossible to put this book down." Patricia Holt San Francisco Chronicle "Watterson has written one of the most powerful, painful, yet healing stories about our most explosive issue: race." Cornel West, author of Race Matters "Not by the Sword tells an astonishing story of daring and resourcefulness in making contact with another who would negate one's very right to exist... Watterson's account of the events is fascinating, and the story itself is so extraordinary that one cannot but be gripped by it." Paul L. Wachtel Washington Post Book World "Not by the Sword has High Holy Days written all over it. It's an epic of teshuva, healing, and the great potential of human beings to change... [Watterson] reveals much about Weisser's background that might explain why he worked so hard to give others the opportunity to change." Sandee Brawarsky Jewish Week
