Death of an Empire: The Rise and Murderous Fall of Salem, America's Richest City - Hardcover

by Robert Booth (Author)

Most readers know Salem only for the city's notorious witch trials. But years later it became a very different city, one that produced America's first millionaire (still one of history's 75 wealthiest men) and boasted a maritime trade that made it the country's richest city. Westward expansion and the industrial revolution would eventually erode Salem's political importance, but it was a shocking murder and the scandal that followed which led at last to its fall from national prominence.

Death of an Empire is a finely-written tale of a little-known but remarkably rich era of American history, drawing in characters such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, John Quincy Adams, and Daniel Webster.

Author Biography

ROBERT BOOTH's guidebook Boston's Freedom Trail has been in print for twenty-five years and he has contributed to the anthology Salem: Place, Myth & Memory. He is curator emeritus of the Pickering House in Salem and serves on the boards of several history organizations. He lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts.