Detonators
The Secret Plot to Destroy America and an Epic Hunt for Justice
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
"A gripping account" of German spies, a massive explosion in New York Harbor, and the hunt for the conspirators (The New York Times).
The attack in New York Harbor was so explosive that people as far away as Maryland felt the ground shake. Windows were blown out at the New York Public Library; the main building at Ellis Island was nearly destroyed; the Statue of Liberty was damaged. Chaos overtook Manhattan as the midnight sky turned to fire.
The year was 1916. And it had been shockingly easy.
As war raged in Europe, Americans watched from afar, unthreatened by the danger overseas. Yet the US was riddled with networks of German spies. The attack on the harbor was only a part of their plans: secret anthrax facilities were located ten miles from the White House; bombs were planted on ships, hidden in buildings, and mailed to 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, 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 evening in July, when the island called Black Tom exploded, setting alight a vast store of munitions destined for the front.
Three American lawyers made it their mission to solve the mystery. Their hunt for justice would take them 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.
"A fascinating but little-known episode in World War I history . . . gripping reading." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"An intriguing, bracing tale." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Millman (The Odds; Pickup Artists), best known for his sports writing, tackles a fascinating but little-known episode in World War I history: the extensive plot by a network of German spies to wreak havoc in the U.S. Their one big success, he observes, was the massive explosion that blew up a spit of land in New York Harbor next to Liberty Island known as Black Tom, including an ammunition depot, and caused extensive damage throughout Manhattan and Jersey City, with reverberations felt as far south as Philadelphia. Millman has delved into the story deeply and with verve, basing much of this fast-paced, thrillerlike tale on affidavits, briefs, memos and letters from those involved in the plot and the long postwar effort to get to the bottom of it. Although the American government had plenty of clues about who was responsible, nothing of substance was done to solve the mystery until the early 1930s when three American lawyers John McCloy, Amos Peaslee and Harold Martin set out in earnest to investigate it. Millman's emphasis on the personal stories of the main characters involved in hatching the Black Tom plot and those who solved it makes for gripping reading. 8 b&w photos.
