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In his book Grant’s Enforcer: Taking Down the Klan Guy Gugliota offers a gripping story of the early years after the Civil War and the campaign led by President Ulysses S. Grant’s attorney general Amos T. Akerman to destroy the Ku Klux Klan. Akerman, a former Georgia slaveholder and the only Southerner to serve in a Reconstruction cabinet, was the first federal lawman to propose using the Fourteenth Amendment to prosecute civil rights violations.Gugliotta uses newspapers, documents, and first-person stories, including thousands of pages of testimony under oath taken by a Congressional joint committee tasked in 1871 to study the Ku Klux Klan, a breathtaking compilation of accounts by Ku Klux targets, their attackers, local and national politicians, public officials and private citizens. The result is a vivid portrait of the Reconstruction South through the career of this surprising man.Guy joins us in conversation this week to talk about how Grant and Akerman took down the Klan.

A demonstration is planned in support of defendants charged after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol. The FBI says there's no specific threat, but security officials say they're ready no matter what.

In a blow to rival Ted Cruz with less than a week until Iowa, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. officially endorses the twice-divorced casino mogul.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, submitted a report Monday assessing progress in the war there, saying the situation remains "serious," but that "success is achievable." The report did not address the issue of whether more U.S. troops were needed in Afghanistan.

Tuesday will be a memorable day in many respects -- it's the 62nd anniversary of the D-Day invasion, and many states will hold primary elections. But it's also 6/6/06, and that makes a lot of people nervous because one interpretation of the Book of Revelation says 666 is the "number of the beast."

In Karachi, temperatures surpassed 111 degrees Fahrenheit. The government has called on the military to set up makeshift medical camps.

Congress is expected to approve President Bush's $75-billion request to fund the war in Iraq, but the House and Senate must reconcile differences over the size of a proposed tax cut. The House passed the president's package, worth $726 billion over 10 years. But the war's growing price tag makes the Senate reluctant to sign off on the entire amount. NPR's David Welna reports.

For many, summer is a time of transition: weddings, graduations, job interviews. And that means it's also a season for thank-you notes. Despite the ubiquity of e-mail, experts tell Michele Norris that a handwritten note remains the best way to express your gratitude.

The venerable New York investment firm Goldman Sachs has a long track record for producing political bigwigs. Treasury Secretary-nominee Henry M. Paulson Jr. has served as both chairman and CEO since 1999. The company boasts a return on equity of upwards of 40 percent.

Sonia Gandhi, heir to India's Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, gives up her chance to become prime minister, reportedly to protect her Congress Party's new government from attacks over her Italian birth. Manmohan Singh, architect of the country's financial reforms, is now seen as the favorite to become prime minister. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.