A deeply researched account of the life and legacy of the man who defined the profession of private eye
Allan Pinkerton, the world's most famous private detective, has been an enduring source of fascination since the nineteenth century. But the details of his impact, business empire, and private life have been incomplete.
Drawing on overlooked primary sources, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones provides an authoritative account of the man and the Pinkerton National Detective Agency (PNDA). It is the story of how PNDA's founder and its successive generations of heirs put it at the center of American history for decades. A small sampling of Pinkerton's activities includes providing intelligence in the Civil War, pursuing high-profile outlaws like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and protecting scabs in the Homestead lockout, for which they became notorious. The book continues telling PNDA's history into the twentieth century.
General readers as well as scholars of American history will be fascinated by this rich new portrait of Pinkerton's accomplishments, controversies, and contradictions.
Reviews
"More than a biography of Allan Pinkerton, Jeffreys-Jones's meticulously researched book shows how the legendary detective and his espionage empire helped fuel the growth of the private security state. Not just a fun read, but a story with implications for our own time."—Kathryn Olmsted, author, Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy
"Jeffreys-Jones offers a strikingly original portrait of Allan Pinkerton, the founder of America's first national detective agency, combined with a compelling explanation of Pinkertonism as a distinctively American style of surveillance. In a series of vivid episodes, he provides powerful insights into labor history, the conspiratorial imagination, and the privatization of security in the United States."—Kevin Kenny, Glucksman Professor of History, New York University, author, Making Sense of the Molly Maguires
"More than just a biography, this engaging book brings Gilded Age history to life and offers a nuanced analysis of the complicated legacy of the Pinkertons. Sherlock Holmes may have been an idealized version of Allan Pinkerton, but the real story—warts and all—is just as fascinating."—Katherine Unterman, associate professor of history, Texas A&M University
About the Author
Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones is the author or editor of nearly twenty books, including The Nazi Spy Ring in America (GUP 2020) and A Question of Standing: The History of the CIA (2022).
