Erin 's Reviews > The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective

"Liberty will not descend to a people, a people must raise themselves to liberty" Emma Goldman

It always makes me roll my eyes when I hear people say that " Things today or the worst they've ever been" " Politics has never been this violent". It's hilarious...I mean 4 President's were assassinated and several others were nearly assassinated. It might seem like terrorism was invented in the 1990s but terrorism has always existed....Slavery is terrorism...Jim Crow was terrorism. The 1916 explosion on Black Tom Island was the most intense blast in NYC until 9/11. And the 1919 coordinated bombings carried out by anarchists in NYC were considered the biggest terrorist attack on NYC until (say it with me) 9/11.

The Infernal Machine, which refers to dynamite is about the anarchist movement of the early 1900s. Mostly made up of Russian immigrants, these anarchist were freedom fighters....who occasionally blew shit up. They never intend to hurt or kill innocent people, only destroy property or kill the American millionaire class. These rich pieces of shit like Andrew Carnegie used Pinkerton detectives to violently break up labor strikes. They used law enforcement along with the state to destroy unions... something that's still happening today.

While I personally believe in the right to blow shit up for the greater good....the police than as today disagreed. The NYPD developed or started using many things that are now considered everyday parts of "fighting crime," like electronic surveillance, fingerprint analysis, and mugshots. The police state that it is current day America began with the pursuit of anarchist.

The Infernal Machine is a thrilling and well researched history of freedom fighters and the cops who sought to bring them down. We also get a cameo from one of the worst men in the history of law enforcement J.Edgar Hoover. I'm obviously fairly radical in my politics so I was rooting for the anarchist but even if you love the police I think you'll enjoy this book. The author covers the major figures on both sides of the law.

A must read for all my History lovers!