The Gist

The Little-Known Story of Sabotage in New York Harbor

July 30 marks the centenary of a major terrorist attack on the United States. Never heard of it?

Chad Millman’s book tells the story of the first major act of foreign terrorism on the U.S.

Little, Brown and Co.

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One hundred years ago, a man named Michael Kristoff strolled onto an island in the New York harbor armed with explosives cooked by German chemists. He was there to blow up a stockpile of munitions pledged to Allied Powers.

On The Gist, Chad Millman tells the story of the first major act of foreign terrorism on the United States. His 2006 book, The Detonators: The Secret Plot to Destroy America and an Epic Hunt for Justice, has just been released in e-book form to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the attack.

The regular Spiel will be back next week—get your fix by checking out the past two weeks of a.m. Spiels on the Republican and Democratic conventions.

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Email: thegist@slate.com
Twitter: @slategist