Inventing The Pinkertons; Or, Spies, Sleuths, Mercenaries, And Thugs: Being A Story Of The Nation’s Most Famous (and Infamous) Detective Agency

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. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 2 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 8 Introduction. Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency, or heroes and villains of the Gilded Age......Page 12 Chapter One. In which Allan Pinkerton creates his agency......Page 24 The making of Allan Pinkerton......Page 26 Allan Pinkerton goes to war......Page 29 Crafting the Pinkerton detective......Page 37 Conclusion: A detective mythology......Page 43 Chapter Two. In which Pinkerton men become the antiheroes of the middle west......Page 46 Mississippi outlaws......Page 48 The outlaw Jesse James......Page 53 Wild bandits of the border......Page 57 Conclusion: Highwaymen of the railroad......Page 61 Chapter Three. In which Pinkerton agents infiltrate secret societies......Page 64 A noxious weed of Ireland......Page 67 Among the assassins!......Page 72 Strikers, communists, tramps, and detectives......Page 75 Conclusion: Anarchists and the detectives......Page 78 Chapter Four. In which the Pinks serve as a private army for capital......Page 82 The “Pinkerton Force” or detectives on trial......Page 85 “Pinkerton is neither more nor less than the head of a band of mercenaries”......Page 86 The Knights of Labor and the Pinkerton roughs......Page 93 Conclusion: Anarchists and the detectives......Page 110 Chapter Five. In which Pinkerton myrmidons invade Homestead......Page 113 The Great Battle of Homestead......Page 115 Mr. Frick’s hired invaders......Page 118 The Pinkerton system is a standing menace to order and good government......Page 120 Conclusion: Pinkerton raiders, the advance guard to Poles and Hungarians......Page 127 Chapter Six. In which the disgrace of Pinkertonism is subjected to public scrutiny......Page 130 Protecting property from the “tyranny of the Homestead mob”......Page 132 Protecting free labor from “this gang of Hessians”......Page 134 Protecting society from the “disgrace of Pinkertonism”......Page 137 Conclusion: Lessons on corporate management from the mercenaries of the oligarchy......Page 141 Chapter Seven. In which the frontier closes and Pinkerton practices are exposed......Page 145 A cowboy detective and a labor spy......Page 148 Surrounded with lice, Pinkerton detectives, and other vermin......Page 152 Pinking the Pinkertons......Page 157 Conclusion: Anarchists and detectives, reconsidered......Page 164 Chapter Eight. In which the modern state takes on the duties of the Pinkerton agency......Page 167 Birdy Edwards and the last myth of the Pinkertons......Page 169 The modern state and the detectives......Page 170 Stool pigeons, company gunmen, and the New Deal......Page 174 Conclusion: Dashiell Hammett, Pinkerton......Page 178 Conclusion. Pinkerton’s Inc......Page 181 Notes......Page 194 C......Page 212 G......Page 213 K......Page 214 P......Page 215 R......Page 216 W......Page 217 Illustrations......Page 96

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.

"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."--Provided by publisher 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__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,is a gripping look at how the histories of American capitalism, industrial folklore, and the nation-state converged. Introduction. Pinkerton's National Detective Agency, or heroes and villains of the Gilded Age Chapter one. In which Allan Pinkerton created his agency Chapter two. In which Pinkerton men become the antiheroes of the middle west Chapter three. In which Pinkerton agents infiltrate secret societies Chapter four. In which the Pinks serve as a private army for capital Chapter five. In which Pinkerton myrmidons invade Homestead Chapter six. In which the disgrace of Pinkertonism is subjected to public scrutiny Chapter seven. In which the frontier closes and Pinkerton practices are exposed Chapter eight. In which the modern state takes on the duties of the Pinkerton agency Conclusion. Pinkerton's Inc. 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 "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, [this book examines] how the histories of American capitalism, industrial folklore, and the nation-state converged"-- Provided by publisher D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Illustrations