... [a] beguiling new history.

... compelling and compassionate.

Guyatt’s account stretches across fourteen chapters – easily the most comprehensive study to date (and probably for quite a long while). Much of the book is context. American prisoners do not begin arriving at Dartmoor until the fourth chapter. In these initial chapters, Guyatt offers a hasty, though not oversimplified, summary of the Anglo–American tensions that erupted into war in 1812, and a short history of the prison.

As a result of the emphasis on the prison and the prisoners, especially and, in particular, the racial aspect, critically speaking, the subtitle of this book is somewhat of a misnomer. Indeed, it is a bit puzzling that the individual parts that divide the book are all titled with respect to King Dick, no matter the material discussed in the individual chapters of each part.

... engrossing.

Guyatt...aims to correct the written record of this tragedy, which has been largely obscured.

Expertly weaving digressions on the history of incarceration and the racial dynamics of America’s shipping industry into the narrative, Guyatt delivers an engrossing look at an intriguing historical footnote..