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The fascinating story of the most notorious detective agency in US history. Between 1865 and 1937, Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency was at the center of countless conflicts between capital and labor, bandits and railroads, and strikers and state power. Some believed that the detectives were protecting society from dangerous criminal conspiracies; others thought that armed Pinkertons were capital’s tool to crush worker dissent. Yet the image of the Pinkerton detective also inspired romantic and sensationalist novels, reflected shifting ideals of Victorian manhood, and embodied a particular kind of rough frontier justice. Inventing the Pinkertons examines the evolution of the agency as a pivotal institution in the cultural history of American monopoly capitalism. Historian S. Paul O’Hara intertwines political, social, and cultural history to reveal how Scottish-born founder Allan Pinkerton insinuated his way to power and influence as a purveyor of valuable (and often wildly wrong) intelligence in the Union cause. During Reconstruction, Pinkerton turned his agents into icons of law and order in the Wild West. Finally, he transformed his firm into a for-rent private army in the war of industry against labor. Having begun life as peddlers of information and guardians of mail bags, the Pinkertons became armed mercenaries, protecting scabs and corporate property from angry strikers. O’Hara argues that American capitalists used the Pinkertons to enforce new structures of economic and political order. Yet the infamy of the Pinkerton agent also gave critics and working communities a villain against which to frame their resistance to the new industrial order. Ultimately, Inventing the Pinkertons is a gripping look at how the histories of American capitalism, industrial folklore, and the nation-state converged.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXV. THE MOYER-HAYWOOD-PETTIBONE CASE, NOW BEFORE THE PUBLIC PINKERTON CONSERVATISM. The Moyer-Haywood-Pettibone case is a thrilling chapter of conspiracy, wrong-doing, knavery and persecution; a chapter where we find governors, sheriffs and famous Pinkerton detectives acting to perfection the infamous roles of rascals and kidnappers, in brazen defiance of laws and statutes; a chapter where men are to be tried for their lives on the strength of illgrounded suspicion, distorted facts and perjured evidence; in short, a chapter so full of impossible situations, mischievous possibilities, glaring contradictions and sensational complications, that it reads more like a detective tale of the blood and thunder variety than a narrative of occurrences happening in real life. This case reveals to us the monstrous spectacle of a man endeavoring to put to death three of his fellowmen on the mere strength of his own personal reputation, a reputation which is founded on the beams of scaffolds and the number of hapless victims who thereon gasped their last; as though the bare word of an executioner is evidence sufficient to convict and punish men accused of crime. This is a case where the prosecution, in the name of the people of the States of Colorado and Idaho, has prostituted itself most shamefully in behalf of gigantic moneyed interests, to intimidate and crush a great labor organization, by accepting as gospel truth the awful charges of conspiracy and murder which the Pinkerton Agency has heaped mountain-high upon the Western Federation of Miners in general, and under which they hope, particularly, to bury and entomb Messrs. Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone. In fine, this is a case of such surpassing interest that, regardless of the fact that...

From references to secret agents in The Art of War in 400 B.C.E. to the Bush administration's ongoing War on Terrorism, espionage has always been an essential part of state security policies. This illustrated encyclopedia traces the fascinating stories of spies, intelligence, and counterintelligence throughout history, both internationally and in the United States. Written specifically for students and general readers by scholars, former intelligence officers, and other experts, Encyclopedia of Intelligence and Counterintelligence provides a unique background perspective for viewing history and current events. In easy-to-understand, non-technical language, it explains how espionage works as a function of national policy; traces the roots of national security; profiles key intelligence leaders, agents, and double-agents; discusses intelligence concepts and techniques; and profiles the security organizations and intelligence history and policies of nations around the world. As a special feature, the set also includes forewords by former CIA Director Robert M. Gates and former KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin that help clarify the evolution of intelligence and counterintelligence and their crucial roles in world affairs today.