“An undertone of cold fury pulses through Peter Stehman’s meticulously researched account of Robert Prager’s lynching by an Illinois mob in 1918 and the subsequent trial that let his murderers off scot-free. The tale he tells is by turns touching, troubling, and timely. It amounts to a parable about the ease with which inflamed patriotism and ignorant prejudice can brew a toxic storm that exposes the frailty of our humanity as well as the fallibility of our judicial system.”

—David M. Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Over Here: The First World War and American Society

“Patriotic Murder offers the richest account ever of this tragic and forgotten chapter of American history. Peter Stehman is a master storyteller who brings the personalities and political passions of World War I America to life and shows us, a century later, what we can learn from the lessons of the past.”

—Christopher Capozzola, author of Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen