The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective

Steven Johnson's account examines the anarchist movement that terrorized New York City and the police reformers who transformed law enforcement in response. The narrative spans from Alfred Nobel's invention of dynamite and the assassination of Czar Alexander II to New York City during World War I. In April 1914, the NYPD operates as a corrupt, low-tech organization focused primarily on physical force rather than crime-solving. New Commissioner Arthur Woods seeks to implement a science-based approach to policing, but faces an immediate crisis: a five-year campaign of bombings perpetrated largely by anarchists led by Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman. Working with Woods are Inspector Joseph Faurot, a detective committed to scientific methods, and Amadeo Polignani, an undercover detective who infiltrates the Bresci Circle. The book documents a period of political conviction, scientific innovation, assassination plots, bombings, undercover operations, and detective work that preceded modern surveillance and decentralized protest movements.