The book narrates the Stono River uprising of 1739, a slave rebellion that took the lives of over two dozen whites and as many as two hundred blacks in colonial South Carolina, was the largest North American mainland slave insurrection during the English colonial era.

Peter Charles Hoffer is Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Georgia. He specializes in early U.S. history and legal history. He is the author of numerous books, including Past Imperfect; Seven Fires: The Urban Infernos that Reshaped American History; The Brave New World: A History of Early America; and The Supreme Court: An Essential History.