The Detonators: The Secret Plot to Destroy America and an Epic Hunt for Justice

(Hardback)

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Description

In 1916 a group of German saboteurs blew up Black Tom Island, a spit of land in New York Harbour. The brazen attack destroyed the harbour and the ammunition housed there - and the subsequent hail of missiles and gunpowder devastated much of lower Manhattan. The attack - so massive that as far away as Maryland people could feel the ground shake - had been shockingly easy. America was littered with networks of German agents plotting further, more deadly, attacks.

Twenty years later the German government had still managed to evade responsibility for the crime - and probably would have continued to, were it not for the determination of three lawyers named McCloy, Peaslee, and Martin. These men made it their mission to solve a mystery that began during the first World War and barely ended before the second. They were litigators, spies, historians and, ultimately, defenders of the truth. THE DETONATORS is a fascinating portrait of these men and their time; the dramatic love story of John and Ellen McCloy; and the first full accounting of a crime and a cover-up that resonates strongly in a post-9/11 America.

Reviews

' A big, startling historical novel bursting with material and emotional life' Sunday Times 'A highly literary novel... A profoundly impressive piece of work' Guardian 'Tremendous pace and readability ... the author marshals a thousand quiet details to give these lives their complex due' Independent 'A gripping, vibrant story ... Authenticity rings throughout this impressive epic' City Life (Writer of the Year)

Author Bio

Chad Millman is a former Sports Illustrated reporter, CNNSI correspondent and current senior editor at ESPN The Magazine and written for Details and Esquire. He is the author of several books and co-author of Pickup Artists: Street Basketball in America.