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

by Steven Johnson

“A fast-burning fuse of a book, every page bursting with revelatory detail.”—ERIK LARSON

A sweeping account of the anarchists who terrorized the streets of New York and the detective duo who transformed policing to meet the threat—a tale of fanaticism, forensic science, and dynamite from the bestselling author of The Ghost Map

WINNER OF THE EDGAR AWARD A CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION

Steven Johnson’s engrossing account of the epic struggle between the anarchist movement and the emerging surveillance state stretches around the world and between two centuries—from Alfred Nobel’s invention of dynamite and the assassination of Czar Alexander II to New York City in the shadow of World War I.

April 1914. The NYPD is still largely the corrupt, low-tech organization of the Tammany Hall era. To the extent the police are stopping crime—as opposed to committing it—their role has been almost entirely defined by physical the brawn of the cop on the beat keeping criminals at bay with nightsticks and fists. The solving of crimes is largely outside their purview.

The new commissioner, Arthur Woods, is determined to change that, but he cannot anticipate the maelstrom of violence that will soon test his science-based approach to policing. Within weeks of his tenure, New York City is engulfed in the most concentrated terrorism campaign in the nation’s a five-year period of relentless bombings, many of them perpetrated by the anarchist movement led by legendary radicals Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman. Coming to Woods’s aide are Inspector Joseph Faurot, a science-first detective who works closely with him in reforming the police force, and Amadeo Polignani, the young Italian undercover detective who infiltrates the notorious Bresci Circle.

Johnson reveals a mostly forgotten period of political conviction, scientific discovery, assassination plots, bombings, undercover operations, and innovative sleuthing. The Infernal Machine is the complex pre-history of our current moment, when decentralized anarchist networks have once again taken to the streets to protest law enforcement abuses, right-wing militia groups have attacked government buildings, and surveillance is almost ubiquitous.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime, Politics, Science, Audiobook

Audible Audio

First published May 14, 2024

About the author

Steven Johnson is the bestselling author of twelve books, including Enemy of All Mankind, Farsighted, Wonderland, How We Got to Now, Where Good Ideas Come From, The Invention of Air, The Ghost Map, and Everything Bad Is Good for You.
He's the host of the podcast American Innovations, and the host and co-creator of the PBS and BBC series How We Got to Now. Johnson lives in Marin County, California, and Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and three sons.

Reviews

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is anarchy. No wait, this book is an octopus. Actually, it's both.

The Infernal Machine by Steven Johnson accomplishes something no other book before it has done. That is to describe the ideology of anarchy in a way that makes sense to me. As for the octopus part, Johnson weaves so many story lines together that it will make your head spin. Off the top of my head, he explains the aforementioned anarchist movement, the evolution of the U.S. detective, J. Edgar Hoover, dynamite, and the beginnings of a police state. This book is part history, true crime, and even thriller. How can Johnson balance all these topics without it feeling like a disjointed mess? I don't know, but he did it.

The major through-line of the story are the anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. I certainly wouldn't call them the heroes of the story as they are, at best, hypocrites and, at worst, psychopaths. It depends how comfortable you are with blowing people up. Regardless, their characters are not the point. Their belief system, anarchy, is. Johnson masterfully paints a picture of a movement that has some interesting ideas even if they are never fully understood, implemented, or even agreed upon by its adherents. Goldman and Berkman lay at the center of all the tentacles of the octopus even when they are not actively taking part. It makes for a story which covers a lot of ground while being extremely compact and engaging on every page.

In short, this will be on a lot of people's "best of 2024" lists (including mine!).

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Crown Publishing.)

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a NY Times recommended book for 2024.

I really enjoyed this read and it was very close to a 5 star book for me. I had read another history book by Johnson called the Ghost Map and I think this one about anarchists, detectives and dynamite is better. The infernal machine refers to dynamite bombs.

Pros
1. Well researched
2. The type of enlightening history that no one, or at least myself, knows anything about.
3. Great back stories on the principal characters.
4. It is set in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. This melting pot is about as interesting a place in history as you can find.
5. The pacing was perfect.



Cons
1. The title of NY Anarchists would have been better.
2. The writing was a notch below Erik Larson or Hampton Sides but it is in the same historical narrative genre.

By coincidence I began reading this on the day that the alleged United Health Care murder suspect was caught. It is sad to see so many people online justifying the violent act of murdering a fellow citizen and it shouldn’t matter if it is a CEO.

Well it turns out that many of the same twisted arguments and manifestos for justifying the killing of a health care executive were also espoused against executives and politicians by the U.S. and Italian anarchists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I had no idea that there were hundreds of bombings and assassination attempts during this period, most of them in New York.

The anarchists are largely what the book is about along with the twin story of the NYC detectives who refined and fostered new police methods like fingerprinting and wiretapping to capture the anarchists and other criminals.

The book however starts with the history of dynamite and the original terrorists who used it were Russians trying to kill the Tsars. They were eventually successful. Is it okay to kill a Tsar but not a CEO? Who gets to define when a revolution is justifiable? The problem with anarchists is that their plan never provides a long term solution to any problem. When Emma Goldman, who is a chief villain in this book, gets deported to Russia as an old woman, she bemoans how life was better in the United States. Well it is obvious to us now but Russia in the 1920s was even more of a surveillance state than the U.S. with very few freedoms. It is delusional to pretend the grass is always greener on the other side or that killing people will lead to positive change. But many people become famous by espousing radical ideas like Goldman. It is not so different from people wanting to dismantle governmental institutions in this country.

Americans need to become better informed about the rest of the world. I have done a lot of traveling in my life. I’m even abroad visiting a developing nation as I write this. People make on average wage of $7,000 a year here and are much happier than Americans. This despite that they have next to no advanced health care options or money. There are many things to fix about the U.S. but looking to crackpots to solve them or professing admiration for deranged assassins seems troubling.

Back to the book. There are many famous people profiled in this book including the criminals like Emma Goldman and industry titans like JP Morgan. J Edgar Hoover makes an appearance and got his start when NYC transferred their specialised detective division to the Federal Government during WW1. Most of the detectives profiled were unknown to me.

I can highly recommend this book. It was well done and a fast read. I finished it in a day.

4.5 stars

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"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!

[Dax · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is shocking the Steven Johnson does not get the same attention as the Erik Larsons and David Granns of the world. His writing is considerate and thoughtful, and he makes astute observations without making assumptions. It is refreshing to read someone whose work just bleeds authenticity.

I picked up 'The Infernal Machine' after a friend's recommendation without knowing too much about it. What I found is a work that charts the rise of anarchism from the birth of dynamite, through the assassination of Alexander II and President McKinley, all the way to the establishment of NYPD's anti-terrorism unit and finally the creation of the FBI with Edgar Hoover. Along the way we have numerous attentats (a fun word to say and a popular word choice for Johnson), both successful and unsuccessful, that target key political players and members of the gilded age royalty.

How could all of this not seem interesting? This is a history book for which everyone should make time. A high four stars, and I reserve the right to bump it to five after further consideration. I will be reading more Johnson too.

[Angie Boyter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful blend of forensic history, portraits of the players, and intriguing science
What a captivating read! The author did not even wait until Chapter One; he lured me in with the epigraphs, especially a quote from Oscar Wilde touting the virtues of disobedience, a prime characteristic of the anarchist movement.
Johnson’s description of the anarchists, their motivations and aspirations, and the techniques they used to try to achieve their goals was both enlightening and somewhat frightening. Like most people I was aware of the anarchy movement but had not realized how widespread and organized it was. The anarchy movement was not the only factor that led to the development of modern policing, but the challenges this movement presented for law enforcement and other government officials were certainly an important motivator.
As a fan of mysteries and police procedurals, my main attraction to this book originally was the topic of the development of modern forensic and policing techniques, and I learned a lot about the techniques and some of the science behind them. Many classic police and crime-fighting techniques are much newer than I would have guessed, like fingerprinting, and others depend on nineteenth-century inventions like photography. Other important inventions, like Alfred Nobel’s “infernal machine” , dynamite, which he intended for industrial purposes, were coopted by the anarchists to further their cause. It was also interesting to hear about the activities and excesses of groups like the Pinkerton detectives.
The book gave me good personal introductions to major figures. I felt sorry for Nobel, who saw how his contribution to modern industry was being misused. In addition to Nobel, readers meet important figures in the anarchy movement like Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. It was intriguing to hear about the participation of women in this movement, many of them drawn in by the goal of peace (despite the hardly peaceful techniques the anarchists used). Their lifestyles certainly fit their political philosophy. It was interesting also to learn about Alphonse Bertillon, a French police officer who first developed an identification system based on physical measurements for use in law enforcement.
This was the first book I have read by Steven Johnson, but it certainly will not be the last!
I received an advance review copy of this book from Edelweiss and Crown Publishing.

[Jeff Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a long-time fan of Steven Johnson's work. His books explore and tie-together pieces of history that aren't the usual episodes we all know about. This may be his most ambitious project yet - bringing together the invention of dynamite, the origins of modern policing methods, the anarchist movement, and capitalism. He usually does this through the narrative technique of following key players in all the fields, from the nascent NYPD bomb squad to the originator of the Nobel prizes. This book was highly informative, vastly entertaining, and gave me some brilliant villain motives I might have to consider for my own books. Well done!

[Suzanne Zeitouni · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was more about the anarchist movement that rocked the world and the US during the late 1800s- early 1900s. Interesting history of Emma Goldman et al is the more over arching theme. The reader also learns about the arrival of dynamite on the scene, the Pinkerton Agency, etc. While all of it was enjoyable and educational in a non-dull and non-dry telling, it also had too many threads it was working. It became disjointed and confusing at times to jump from one storyline to the other. With that said, I will definitely look into other works by this author. His style was very reminiscent of Grann and Larson as other reviewers have also pointed out.

[Sarah-Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steven Johnson's The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective reminds me a bit of an episode of James Burke's Connections television series. It begins at one place—Alfred Nobel developing TNT—and moves out from there through anarchy, terrorism, police methodology, and the government-law enforcement relationship as we now know it. It also offers interesting side excursions to things like phrenology and NY City police politics. And Teddy Roosevelt makes an appearance. Really, if this doesn't pique your interest, what on earth does?

Johnson's prose is crisp, bringing to life key players in this chain of events and individuals. Claims are accompanied by well0-chosen evidence. Johnson also manages to insert a great many engaging narrative sections that accompany the fact-based prose. In other words, this read is a treat, through and through.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss; the opinions are my own.

[Aaron Baxter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellently detailed history of the international anarchist movement in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The story feels really centered on Emma Goldman by the end, as a somewhat tragic figure almost bucking the more violent tendencies of a doomed movement.

The author frames the narrative as an arms race between unfettered industrialism/capitalism, violent but pro labor anarchists, and the rising international surveillance state. Really fascinating stuff!

[Michael Reilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is mostly the story of the Anarchist violence in America between 1890 and 1920 and the development of police tactics to fight it. Johnson also describes Alfred Nobel's career in explosives, the "Black Hand" Italian gangsters in NYC, the rise of the Pinkerton detectives as de facto national police, the union struggle in the steel industry, and the battle in the NYPD between old school cops and modern reformers.

The book is filled with interesting stories and people. The assassination attempt on Henry Clay Frick, the Crispi trial in NYC where fingerprints were used for the first time to get a conviction, and the case of the "killer priest" Hans Schmidt, are all great stories.

Emma Goldman is the center of the story. She was an amazingly strong and fascinating woman. Peter Kropotkin, the Russian anarchist led an amazing life. Johnson mentions, in passing, that the trans Siberian railroad was built along the path that Kropotkin discovered on an expedition to Siberia when he was 20 years old. Owen Egan was a NY fireman who defused over 7000 thousand bombs during his career. He only failed twice, which is why he was missing two fingers.

The book is full of fascinating stuff, but it doesn't really have much of a narrative structure. The cast is so broad, and the subjects covered are so diverse that it feels like one story after another more than a long narrative.

[Brad Irving · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one had been on my list for awhile. Glad to finally have picked it up.

This was yet another book based in the the late 19th and early 20th century, my 3rd this year. Cool that this one tied in similar ideas and themes from the previous two - the Pinkerton's, the Civil War, railroad building, and Alfred Nobel.

The book discussed the chasm of the political spectrum of the time, much wider than the spectrum today, wherein one side wanted a society without hierarchy, and the other wanted increased hierarchy, control, and surveillance.

The dominant theme of the book focuses on technological advancements made in the era. On the anarchist side, the technology of bomb making and dynamite use, whereas on the government side, the development of fingerprinting, anthomorphology, and surveillance.

Frustratingly, the violence caused by anarchists via dynamite, bombs, and plots against high-level officials was villainized, where the violence inflicted by the industrial revolution and capitalism (which happened at a much larger scale) was seen as a necessary means to an end (not so dissimilar to the 21st century reality).

Well worth the read!

[Books Amongst Friends · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my honest opinion, The Infernal Machine is probably one of the best written nonfiction books I’ve read this year.

Sometimes with nonfiction, it can get too wordy, too historical, or too informational in a way that turns you off and makes it hard to connect with the material. But this book reads like fiction. It perfectly crafts a narrative that is easy to follow along with and almost thriller-like. It dives into the history of anarchy, forensic science, corruption, violence, and the beginnings of some of the very forces we utilize today.

Now, while this is guaranteed to be an interesting read, it focuses on the use of dynamite, the ways in which society began to utilize force, and the pursuit of anarchists. I would be lying if I said there weren't times I was rooting for the anarchy. As we read, we're able to easily see the ways in which the stories of the past mirror those of the present day, while taking a thoughtful look at major events we should know more about.

I also had the audiobook, and creating that immersive reading experience made this feel like I was watching a true crime documentary series that I just could not look away from. Every section, every page is so detailed, and you can’t help but appreciate the research that’s gone into crafting this story in a way that anyone would be interested in reading about it. This is definitely not your average nonfiction.

[Dan S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that covers a whole host of topics from the birth of the Anarchist movement in America, Emma
Goldman’s life, the bombing campaigns of the early 20th century, birth of the modern detective and police force, to the suppression of revolutionaries in the Soviet Union by Lenin and much more. Steve Johnson does a great job coherently weaving all these topics together in a riveting narrative.

Sometimes you wonder what the world would look like today if the Emma Goldman’s of history were not thrown in jail for speaking out against wars America had no business being in.

I felt that Adam Hochschild’s book American Midnight was great but very one sided. This complements that very nicely. I would suggest reading this first if you are not well versed on this chapter in American history.

[PATRICIA S.]

Interesting history of dynamite and way it. was used in the 1890's and early 1900's to try to insitute cultural change, particularly the anarchist movement. The focus is on Nobel, Goldman and Berkman.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent job of pulling together different pieces of history into a persuasive thesis and compelling narrative. The most cogent explanation of anarchism I’ve encountered.

[Liz Incardona · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

Definitely a riveting read and very informative, but there's a lot of distracting typos that make it feel perhaps rushed (including using the wrong name for someone at one point) and I would have liked a bit more done to pull the central thesis together.

[Ella Bishop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don’t ask me why a popular history on dynamite, anarchism and the modern detective was what I wanted while sick with the cold, I don’t have an explanation for you.

The historian in me has some quibbles with the scope, lack of contextualisation of certain aspects, but as a popular history this is an effective intro to some key figures of early 20th century anarchism and does the job well enough.

[LeastTorque · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting intersection of anarchism and policing and science. I really liked the way the author showed how the mix of specific personalities and events interact with broader social pressures to aim history in a particular direction.

I do believe that the author thought the election was going to go a different way when he commented that today’s political polarization didn’t hold a candle to that of a century ago. Sigh. Instead we get history repeating itself:

‘The problem, for Faurot, was that the commissioner who had dispatched him on his mission just two months before was no longer in office. On January 1, just as Faurot was settling in at the Department of Anthropometry, Commissioner McAdoo had been replaced by Thomas Bingham, an unapologetic nativist who believed the solution to New York’s crime problem lay in shutting down our borders and not importing so-called scientific approaches to fighting crime. Speaking to reporters from the Mulberry Street headquarters, Bingham blamed the crime wave on “foreigners, not American citizens…It is the wave of immigration that lands here hundreds and thousands of criminals and fellows who don’t know what liberty means and don’t care, don’t know our customs and cannot speak the English language, and are the scum of Europe mostly.” Bingham dismissed Faurot’s plan for integrating fingerprint science into the Identification Bureau. “It’s a fad,” he jeered, “and a London fad at that.”’

And now those “scum of Europe” are griping about the “scum” of other countries.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book about the use of dynamite, early terrorism activities of anarchists, and modern detective procedures that lead to the capture of the terrorists. The book describes the invention of dynamite by Alfred Nobel and how his ideas about making explosives more stable led to the success of militant terrorism of the anarchist groups in Russia and France. The larger portion of the book concentrates on the bombings carried out or fomented by Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman and the Galleanists; and the efforts of some of the US early police detectives to modernize the detection of criminals including the use of fingerprinting. Although Johnson makes it clear that the anarchists were criminals and terrorists, he does a good job of describing their motivations which started out as noble before descending into violence.

This is good solid history book. If you are interested in terrorism, anarchism, or the beginnings of modern police procedures, this is a very good book to read. I recommend it.

[Jeffrey (Akiva) Savett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing life changing here.

But I learned a lot about Emma Goldman and the Anarchist movement.

The short version with no spoilers is that Johnson deftly weaves the invention of dynamite, horrifying factory working conditions, the rise of the Anarchist Movement, and the rise of modern crime detection featuring among other things, fingerprints, as a groundbreaking new way to prove a person was, without question, in apartment X. Or that they had used a particular drinking glass.

I mentioned Johnson’s deftness; joining these threads as he does, I felt, simultaneously, a kind of inevitability to the events, but also, a very present feeling of suspense.

Entertaining and interesting read.

[Scott Lake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Explains why there are so many bombs in early cartoons indirectly. Not a typical Johnson wide sweeping narrative of culture or technology; but a look at a topic not often addressed by much else; quite alike to
Modern times. Cant say much else without spoiling the book. I listened to the audiobook on 1.25 speed. Not sure I would have lasted through reading this one.

[Broken Lifeboat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steven Johnson manages again to make a complex history of events and people into an almost boots on the ground reporting style read.

Meticulously researched and detailed account of the anarchist movement from labor advocacy to terrorism and the rise of the modern law enforcement response.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

The invention of dynamite, anarchy, the modern detective, the police state, and some J. Edgar Hoover thrown in - Johnson continues his string of fascinating topics and brilliant writing.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting story of how anarchist, dynamite created what we know of policing.

[kathryn donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Why should the oligarchs have a monopoly on political violence? "

[Allison Sesame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting

[Missy Muilenburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

well written and engaging - very interesting to learn about how the modern day police state largely evolved out of the NYPD’s struggle against the anarchist movement.
Also never knew that Alfred Nobel of the Nobel peace prize was the inventor of dynamite - the duality of man

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many layers here that tied together beautifully like a Crunchwrap supreme

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning more about anarchy, tnt, J. Edgar Hoover, and power politics during the era. Well researched and engaging.

[Miles Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

More terrorism in America than I thought