The War of 1812 – the last time Britain and America went to war with each other.

British redcoats torch the White House and six thousand American privateers languish in the world's largest prisoner-of-war camp, Dartmoor. They were of all classes and all races. Some were as young as thirteen.

Known as the 'hated cage' and the 'depot of living death', Dartmoor wasn't a place you'd expect to find full of life and invention. Yet prisoners taught each other algebra, foreign languages and science. While racism raged on in their homeland, in the racially segregated prison Black and white Americans came together to box, dance and put on plays. And then the dramatic prison break.

From digging tunnels to hot pursuits, they encountered (or perhaps invented) every prison-break cliché, before the terrible moment when they were betrayed by one of their own… In The Hated Cage, Nicholas Guyatt brings to life this dramatic tale of race, violence and war.