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The Detonators
The Secret Plot to Destroy America and an Epic Hunt for Justice
Contributors
By Chad Millman
Formats and Prices
Price
$9.99Price
$12.99 CADFormat
Format:
- ebook $9.99 $12.99 CAD
- Hardcover $39.00 $49.00 CAD
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around August 1, 2009. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
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The attack in New York Harbor was so explosive that people as far away as Maryland felt the ground shake. Windows were blown out uptown at the New York Public Library; the main building at Ellis Island was nearly destroyed; Statue of Liberty was torn into by shrapnel from the explosion, which would have measured 5.5 on the Richter scale. Chaos overtook Manhattan as the midnight sky turned to fire, lit up with exploding ammunition.
The year was 1916. And it had been shockingly easy.
While war raged in Europe, Americans watched from afar, unthreatened by the danger overseas. Yet the United States was riddled with networks of German spies hiding in plain sight. The attack on New York Harbor was only one part of their plans: secret anthrax facilities were located just ten miles from the White House; bombs were planted on ships, hidden in buildings, and mailed to the country’s civic and business leaders; and an underground syndicate helped potential terrorists obtain fake IDs, housing, and money. President Woodrow Wilson knew an attack of this magnitude was possible, and yet nothing was done to stop it. Americans, feeling buffered by miles of ocean and burgeoning prosperity, had ignored the mounting threat.
That all changed on a warm summer evening in late July, when the island in New York Harbor called Black Tom exploded, setting alight a vast store of munitions destined for the front.
Three American lawyers — John McCloy, Amos Peaslee, and Harold Martin — made it their mission to solve the Black Tom mystery. Their hunt for justice would take them undercover to Europe, deep into the shadowy world of secret agents and double-crosses, through the halls of Washington and the capitals of Europe. It would challenge their beliefs in right and wrong. And they would discover a sinister plot so vast it could hardly have been imagined — a conspiracy that stretched from downtown Manhattan to the very heart of Berlin.
The Detonators is the first full accounting of a crime and a cover-up that resonate strongly in a post-9/11 America. And much of the atmosphere and rhetoric in play 100 years ago remains eerily similar to discussions surrounding national security and immigration today. As Millman deftly illustrates in The Detonators, an island may have disappeared, but the resulting lessons have only grown stronger and more urgent, and history has a persistent way of stirring up its ghosts.
This is their story.
“A gripping account of conspiracy.” — New York Times
“A ready-made suspense thriller.” — Boston Globe
“Exhaustively researched… fascinating.” — Entertainment Weekly, 50 Hot Summer Books
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Praise for The DetonatorsNew York Times
"A gripping account of conspiracy." -
"A story with which fans of action thrillers will feel entirely comfortable ... (About) the deadliest and most brazen act of terrorism on American soil before Sept. 11, 2001, and Millman illustrates, subtly and effectively, the parallels between those events in both execution and reaction."New York Daily News
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"Gripping and fascinating ... If Millman didn't base so much of it on actual documents you'd swear it was fiction."New York Post
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"Absorbing ... A ready-made suspense thriller ... Millman recounts the story deftly."Boston Globe
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"Exhaustively researched ... fascinating."Entertainment Weekly, 50 Hot Summer Books
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"Fascinating ... Millman has delved into the story deeply and with verve ... this fast-paced, thriller-like tale makes for gripping reading."Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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"The Detonators is more than an astonishing tale of espionage, keen detective work, and the American instinct for justice; it also calls to us from a past that looks stunningly similar to our futures."Robert Kurson, author of Shadow Divers
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"Fascinating and timely ... a legal thriller that spans two decades and three continents."New York Observer
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"A thrilling, splendidly written--and timely--tale of a forgotten conspiracy, when mysterious enemy agents lurked among us and plotted to force America to her knees. The Detonators is edge-of-your-seat history backed by impeccable scholarship."James Swanson, author of Manhunt
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"Millman deftly narrates ... an intriguing, bracing tale, and not just for history buffs."Kirkus (starred review)
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"Compelling enough to read ...insightful enough to make you think."The Richmond Times-Dispatch
- On Sale
- Aug 1, 2009
- Page Count
- 352 pages
- Publisher
- Little, Brown and Company
- ISBN-13
- 9780316076623
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