Mobtown Massacre

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 tortu