Deliberate Evil: Nathanial Hawthorne, Daniel Webster, and the 1830 Murder of a Salem Slave Trader

Edward J. Renehan, Jr.

Feb 2022 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Shawn Compton

About this audiobook

"This is true crime at its most enthralling-prepare to be transported."-Terri Cheney, New York Times bestselling author of Manic The 1830 murder of wealthy slaver Joseph White shook all of Salem, Massachusetts. Soon the crime drew national attention when it was discovered that two of the conspirators came from Salem's influential Crowninshield family: a clan of millionaire shipowners, cabinet secretaries, and congressmen. A prosecution team led by famed Massachusetts senator Daniel Webster made the case even more newsworthy. Meanwhile, young Salem native Nathaniel Hawthorne-who knew several of the accused-observed and wrote. Here, using source materials not available previously, Edward J. Renehan Jr. provides a riveting narrative of the cold-blooded murder, intense investigations, scandal-strewn trials, and grim executions that dominated headlines nearly two-hundred years ago.

About the author

Edward J. Renehan Jr. is the author of The Life of Charles Stewart Mott, Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould-King of the Robber Barons, The Secret Six: The True Tale of the Men Who Conspired with John Brown, and The Kennedys at War, among others.

Shawn Compton is a professional voice actor and audiobook narrator. He is also a seventeen-year veteran of the Air Force, and has a strong creative background from which to draw inspiration for his narration.