author
Thomas J. (Thomas Joseph) Tunney
b. 1873
Best known as the hard-driving New York police inspector behind early bomb-squad work, he wrote vivid firsthand accounts of wartime plots, spies, and anarchist conspiracies in the United States. His best-known book, Throttled!, turns real investigations into fast-moving history.
1 Audiobook
Throttled! The Detection of the German and Anarchist Bomb Plotters
by Thomas J. (Thomas Joseph) Tunney
About the author
Born in 1873, Thomas J. Tunney is credited in library and book records as Thomas Joseph Tunney. He became known as Inspector Thomas J. Tunney of the New York Police Department and led bomb-squad work during the First World War era, a role that made him a recognizable figure in stories about sabotage and counter-espionage.
His best-known book, Throttled! The Detection of the German and Anarchist Bomb Plotters, was published in 1919 and presented his experiences investigating bombing plots in the United States. The book was told with Paul Merrick Hollister and illustrated from photographs, giving it the feel of both a memoir and a true-crime history.
Tunney wrote from direct professional experience rather than from a literary career, which gives his work a brisk, reportorial style. Readers interested in early twentieth-century policing, wartime intrigue, and the history of domestic security will likely find his writing especially compelling.