āBeguiling.ā The Times
āCompelling.ā Wall Street Journal
āA vivid portrait.ā Daily Mail
Buried in the history of our most famous jail, a unique story of captivity, violence and race.
It's 1812 ā Britain and America are at war. British redcoats torch the White House and six thousand American sailors languish in the worldās largest prisoner-of-war camp, Dartmoor. A myriad of races and backgrounds, some are as young as thirteen.
Known as the āhated cageā, Dartmoor was designed to break its inmates, body and spirit. Yet, somehow, life continued to flourish behind its tall granite walls. Prisoners taught each other foreign languages and science, put on plays and staged boxing matches. In daring efforts to escape they lived every prison-break clichĆ© ā how to hide the tunnel entrances, what to do with the earth, which disguises might passā¦
Drawing on meticulous research, The Hated Cage documents the extraordinary communities these men built within the prison ā and the terrible massacre that destroyed these worlds.
āThis is history as it ought to be ā gripping, dynamic, vividly written.ā Marcus Rediker