Truth and Light, Vol. II, No. 7 (August, 1922)

An early issue of Charles Windle's long-running magazine founded in 1920 to oppose "Religious Prejudice, Communism and other enemy forces which menace Religion, Morality, the Home, and the inalienable and God-given Rights and Liberties of Mankind" (from an editorial in an issue not included here). Although a Protestant, Windle was particularly opposed to the anti-Catholicism espoused by groups such as the Klan and other nativist groups. Content for this issue includes articles on the spurious claim that Catholics assassinated Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley, the constitutional question over parochial schools, activities of the Klan in Texas and San Francisco, and birth control. Also included is the first part of Lee Horan's "Kulture of the Ku Klux Klan" and letters to the editor. Charles A. Windle (1866-1934) was an editor, orator and political campaigner who began his newspaper career in 1897 at the age of 20 as editor of the Ottawa Free Trader (Ill.). He became affiliated with Hearst and Tammany Hall in the early 1900s, campaigned against the temperance movement and edited the Gatling Gun, a weekly Democratic paper, and the Commoner before founding Truth and Light in 1920. Windle named his publishing imprint after the controversial editor William Cowper Brann who was killed over his vitriolic attacks in his newspaper, the Iconoclast. Windle died of a heart attack in 1934, but his son, Charles P., continued with the Truth and Light. The elder Windle's defense of Catholicism may have been related to his 1897 marriage at the age of 20 to a 28-year-old Catholic woman, although the marriage didn't last. Stapled wrappers, 32 pp. Some light chipping to the bottom corner, but a very good copy of an uncommon issue. Less than a dozen institutions holding any issue in OCLC, with most of those holding only an issue or two.…