Inventing the Pinkertons; or, Spies, Sleuths, Mercenaries, and Thugs : Being a Story of the Nation's Most Famous (and Infamous) Detective Agency.

Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction. Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, or heroes and villains of the Gilded Age -- Chapter One. In which Allan Pinkerton creates his agency -- The making of Allan Pinkerton -- Allan Pinkerton goes to war -- Crafting the Pinkerton detective -- Conclusion: A detective mythology -- Chapter Two. In which Pinkerton men become the antiheroes of the middle west -- Mississippi outlaws -- The outlaw Jesse James -- Wild bandits of the border -- Conclusion: Highwaymen of the railroad -- Chapter Three. In which Pinkerton agents infiltrate secret societies -- A noxious weed of Ireland -- Among the assassins! -- Strikers, communists, tramps, and detectives -- Conclusion: Anarchists and the detectives -- Chapter Four. In which the Pinks serve as a private army for capital -- The "Pinkerton Force" or detectives on trial -- "Pinkerton is neither more nor less than the head of a band of mercenaries" -- The Knights of Labor and the Pinkerton roughs -- Conclusion: Anarchists and the detectives -- Chapter Five. In which Pinkerton myrmidons invade Homestead -- The Great Battle of Homestead -- Mr. Frick's hired invaders -- The Pinkerton system is a standing menace to order and good government -- Conclusion: Pinkerton raiders, the advance guard to Poles and Hungarians -- Chapter Six. In which the disgrace of Pinkertonism is subjected to public scrutiny -- Protecting property from the "tyranny of the Homestead mob" -- Protecting free labor from "this gang of Hessians" -- Protecting society from the "disgrace of Pinkertonism" -- Conclusion: Lessons on corporate management from the mercenaries of the oligarchy -- Chapter Seven. In which the frontier closes and Pinkerton practices are exposed -- A cowboy detective and a labor spy.

Surrounded with lice, Pinkerton detectives, and other vermin -- Pinking the Pinkertons -- Conclusion: Anarchists and detectives, reconsidered -- Chapter Eight. In which the modern state takes on the duties of the Pinkerton agency -- Birdy Edwards and the last myth of the Pinkertons -- The modern state and the detectives -- Stool pigeons, company gunmen, and the New Deal -- Conclusion: Dashiell Hammett, Pinkerton -- Conclusion. Pinkerton's Inc -- Notes -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Illustrations.

Ultimately, Inventing the Pinkertons is a gripping look at how the histories of American capitalism, industrial folklore, and the nation-state converged.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.