Today in Writing History May 22, 1859: Author Arthur Conan Doyle was born. He was most famous for his character, Sherlock Holmes. However, he was also a physician and a staunch supporter of compulsory vaccination. He wrote several articles denouncing the views of anti-vaxxers. But he was not particularly successful as a doctor. So, as he sat around waiting for patients to show up, he took to writing stories. Perhaps his most well-known book was The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901). But it was his 1914 Holmes story, The Valley of Fear, that piqued my interest. It is about the Molly Maguires, like my book, Anywhere But Schuylkill, and involves some of the same characters (but with different names). Unfortunately, Doyle relied heavily on the testimony of America’s first celebrity cop, Allan Pinkerton, as his original source and, consequently, makes many of the same historical errors as so many others who’ve written about those events.
You can read my article on Pinkerton, and his war on unions here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/
You can read my article on the Molly Maguires here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/
#workingclass #LaborHistory #mollymaguires #Pinkertons #union #strike #irish #immigration #police #unionbusting #writer #author #books #fiction #novel @bookstadon
