Superman Versus The Ku Klux Klan: the true story of how the iconic superhero battled the men of hate by Rick Bowers. National Geographic, 2012.160 pages.

First, the bad news-- the sexy title promises a lot more than it delivers. We get a social history of the US in the early/mid 20th century, we learn about the young men who created Superman, about the publishing and ad business, ww2 homefront, propaganda, etc. We also learn about the KKK history and mid 20th century resurgence. But the stories are presented side by side and do not intersect-- and then only slightly, until the last chapter. AND NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS... Once I got over that, I enjoyed the book. I never expected to be interested in Superman-- I am not a big graphic person and i do not read superhero DC comics at all, but the book is so readable and well written, and the format enhances the text -- text blocks, photos, bold graphics in black and white. And as a quality informational work it also includes an index, source list by chapter and bibliograhy, as well as an afterward detailing what happened to the seminal characters after the final chapter. Recommended with caveats.