Mobtown Massacre - Alexander Hanson and the Baltimore Newspaper War of 1812

Josh S. Cutler

Summary

Winner of the 2020 Baltimore History Prize, this is a gripping account of how a Federalist editor risked his life to defend his anti-war views.   With a bitterly divided nation plunged into the War of 1812, Alexander Hanson penned an anti-war editorial that provoked a violent standoff that crippled the city of Baltimore and left Hanson beaten within an inch of his life. This little-known episode in American history—complete with a midnight jailbreak, bloodthirsty mobs and unspeakable acts of torture—helped shape the course of war, the Federalist Party and the nation’s very notion of the freedom of the press. Josh Cutler’s history of the Mobtown Massacre offers a lesson in liberty that reverberates today.  “A compelling story that’s as timely today as it was two centuries ago.” —Congressman William R. Keating  “A remarkably vivid, engaging and very readable account of a brief but major event in Baltimore history . . . which reflected the sharp political divisiveness of the time at the start of the War of 1812, and had important implications for freedom of the press and the war itself.”—Charles Markell, board member, Baltimore City Historical Society  “A timely and scholarly examination of one man’s struggle for freedom of the press.”—Fred Dorsey, Howard County, MD historian  “Cutler’s book tells not only of politics of that era and the controversy of a war that ultimately led to the burning of the White House and the writing of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ by Francis Scott Key, but also how it challenged America’s devotion to a free press.” —The Baltimore Sun

Available since: 02/18/2019.

Print length: 227 pages.

Other books that might interest you

Guns of Outlaws - Weapons of the...

Gerry Souter, Janet Souter

“Chronicles the misdeeds of many of America’s worst miscreants, with special emphasis on the tools of the outlaw trade.” —American Rifleman

From colonial-era rifles carried on the “Owlhoot Trail” to John Dillinger’s Colt pistols, the history of the American outlaw is told in guns—weapons that became each man’s personal signature. Authors Gerry and Janet Souter peer into these criminals’ choices of derringers, revolvers, shotguns, rifles, machine guns, and curious hybrids, giving us a glimpse into the minds behind the trigger fingers. With over 200 illustrations, Guns of Outlaws gives a unique look at the lives and the hardware of the most infamous outlaws in American history, and of the law enforcement officers who hunted them.

As settlers moved further west, away from authority and soft city life into the Great Plains, the push for survival through the endless prairies and jagged isolating mountain ranges bred ruthless men. Most outlaws were technology freaks who seized upon the latest weapon innovations developed in the industrious East to provide an edge in the life-and-death cosmos of the Wild West. By the late 1930s and early 1940s, outlaws on horseback had given way to marauding bank robbers. Using fast cars and faster guns, they became folk heroes of the Great Depression, even as the law was hard on their tails.

“Historians Gerry and Janet Souter take the reader back to a time between 1840 and 1940 when . . . outlaws and man hunters lived bold and died hard . . . [The] book show[s] actual tools of the trade wielded during a violent century, bound up in a mix of hard truths and mythology.” —Ammoland.com

Show book

Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths...

Nicholas Corder

The criminal cases vividly described by Nicholas Corder in this gripping book take the reader on a journey into the dark secret side of Cumbria's long history. The hills, villages and market towns of this famous landscape have been the setting for a series of horrific, bloody, sometimes bizarre incidents over the centuries. From crimes of brutal premeditation to crimes born of passion or despair, the whole range of human weakness and wickedness is represented here. Swindlers, conmen, smugglers, pirates, child killers, deserters, fraudsters, robbers and common murderers people these pages, along with their victims. There are descriptions of public executions and instances of extraordinary domestic cruelty and malice that ended in death. Unforgettable local cases are reconstructed—the extraordinary career of the imposter John Hatfield, the Whitehaven raid of John Paul Jones, the unsolved murder of poor Lucy Sands, and many more. Nicholas Corder's chronicle of Cumbria's hidden history will be compelling reading for anyone who is interested in the sinister side of human nature.

Show book

The Murders That Made Us - How...

Bob Calhoun

The 170-year history of the San Francisco Bay Area told through its crimes and how they intertwine with the city’s art, music, and politics
		 
In The Murders That Made Us, the story of the San Francisco Bay Area unfolds through its most violent and depraved acts. From its earliest days when vigilantes hung perps from downtown buildings to the Zodiac Killer and the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, murder and mayhem have shaped the city into the political and economic force that she is today.
		 
The Great 1906 Earthquake shook a city that was already teetering on the brink of a massive prostitution scandal. The Summer of Love ended with a pair of ghastly drug dealer slayings that sent Charles Manson packing for Los Angeles. The 1970s come crashing down with the double tragedy of Jonestown and the assassination of Gay icon Harvey Milk by an ex-cop. And the 21st Century rise of California Governor Gavin Newsom, Trump insider Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Vice President Kamala Harris is told through a brutal dog-mauling case and the absurdity called Fajitagate. It’s a 170-year saga of madness, corruption, and death revealed here one crime at a time.

Show book

Dragnet - Volume 8 - The Big...

W.H. Parker, W.A. Wharton

Those first four notes of its theme tune were instantly recognised and announced the start of perhaps the most famous police procedural in history.  Set in Los Angeles and headed by police detective Sergeant Joe Friday the show has influenced all the many others that have followed in its illustrious footsteps. 
 
It was based on real cases from police files. It described the methods used to track down the culprits and its technical language added to its authenticity.  It was a ratings hit year in, year out.  
 
Played and produced by Jack Webb its pared-down acting brought both the dull routine work and its acts of heroism and unselfishness into the living rooms of ordinary Americans, explaining a side of society that they only read about in the papers, heard in news bulletins or saw fabricated at the movies.  
 
It’s time for the truth and for Sergeant Joe Friday to set the record straight.

Show book

Lone Wolf - Eric Rudolph: Murder...

Maryanne Vollers

“A cool, gripping investigation of the [Olympic Park Bomber’s] mind, methods and stereotype-busting traits . . . A standout in the true crime genre” (New York Times). 
 
Five years after escaping into the mountains of North Carolina, Eric Rudolph was becoming a figure of folk legend. The FBI had long since abandoned its manhunt—the largest ever on U.S. soil—for the fugitive accused of bombing the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, two abortion clinics, and a gay bar. Then, one night, Rudolph got careless; he was arrested and put in jail—possibly forever. But even in custody, he remained unrepentant . . . and an enigma. 
 
In Lone Wolf, Maryanne Vollers brings the reader deep inside one of the most sensational cases of domestic terrorism in American history. At the same time, without losing sight of the hideous nature of Rudolph's violent crimes, she successfully puts a human face on an iconic killer while exploring the painful mysteries of the heart.

Show book

Capone - A Photographic Portrait...

Chicago Tribune

A visual retelling of the rise and eventual fall of Al Capone, comprised of many never-before-published photographs from the Chicago Tribune’s archives. A look back in time to the Roaring Twenties and the early days of organized crime, this collection of historical photos—taken from 1926 to 1952—focus on Capone and those connected to him, including his family, mob rivals, and targets. Many of these photographs have never been seen outside of Chicago’s Tribune Tower, but all of them are high-quality scans of original glass-plate negatives, making them historically significant to both photography buffs and readers interested in Capone. The introduction by the Chicago Tribune’s associate managing photo/video editor details this process in an illuminating, fascinating fashion. The first section gives readers a look inside Capone’s luxurious and illicit gangster lifestyle—vacation homes, mob funerals, gun-toting arrests—up to the time of the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929. The second part follows Capone’s 1931 indictment, trial, and sentencing on charges of defrauding the government and violating prohibition. The third section introduces readers to a mob target who evaded assassination for decades, and one who was not so lucky. The fourth part follows up with Al Capone’s brother, Ralph, and the fifth part focuses on Capone’s death.

Show book