Maryland Blood

Martha Sanger’s history of the Hambletons combines scrupulous research in primary sources with a lively narrative style. The result is an outstanding family biography that covers four centuries. An enjoyable read, Maryland Blood is also a model generational history. Sanger shows how the story of specific Hambletons illustrates larger general themes in our past. This book is a must-read contribution to Maryland and the nation’s history.

The story of the Hambletons is not just a Chesapeake saga but an American saga, following a single family from the primeval forests of the 17th century to the battlefields of the Civil War and the era of jet aviation. Martha Sanger’s book is a prodigious feat of research and storytelling, a true-life version of Michener's Chesapeake.

In this marvelously written, informative, and entertaining epic by Martha Frick Symington Sanger, the notable Hambleton family is the prism through which 358 years of Maryland history can be viewed. The grand sweep of this compelling page turner owes much to its author, who has a scholar’s penchant for details, an eye and ear for anecdotes, and a great appreciation for the many noble and fascinating characters who fill its pages.