A tale of violence, alcohol, and taxes, this book pits Pres. George Washington and Sec. of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton against angry, armed settlers across the Appalachians. Hogeland brings to life the rebellion that contributed to the establishment of fed. authority. In 1791, at the headwaters of the Ohio River, gangs began to attack fed. officials, beating and torturing the collectors who plagued them with the first fed. tax ever laid on an American product -- whiskey.

Those attacks snowballed into an organized regional movement dedicated to resisting the fledgling government¿s power and threatening secession. Here is an insightful account of the remarkable characters who perpetrated this forgotten revolution, and those who suppressed it. Maps.