In 1812, with Britain and America at war, six thousand American sailors as young as 13 languish in the world's largest prisoner-of-war camp, Dartmoor, known as the "hated cage" Dartmoor was specifically designed to break its inmates, but life nevertheless flourished within its walls. Prisoners taught each other foreign languages and science, put on plays and staged boxing matches, all punctuated by daring efforts to escape. Meticulous researched, The Hated Cage documents the human spirit that prevailed in this prison—and the terrible massacre that ultimately destroyed it.