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Western Times and Water Wars chronicles more than a hundred years of tumultuous events in the history of California's Owens Valley. From the pioneer conquest of the native inhabitants to the infamous destruction of the valley's agrarian economy by water-hungry Los Angeles, this legendary setting is a microcosm of the development of the American West

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Tables and Map -- Preface -- 1. The Organization of Inquiry -- 2. Social Structure and Economic Growth in Four Cities of Latin America -- 3. Comparative Perspectives on the Structure of Power -- 4. Leaders and Leadership Ideologies -- 5. Decisions for Development -- 6. The Developmental Record -- 7. Elites and Economic Development -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: The Story -- 1. Enter the Detective -- 2. Working Men and Women -- 3. Agency Business -- 4. Detectives at Work -- 5. Crimes of Detectives -- 6. Investigation and Reform -- 7. The Storied Detective -- 8. Making a Legend -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

""I'm in a business where people come to me with troubles. Big troubles, little troubles, but always troubles they dont want to take to the cops." That's Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, succinctly setting out our image of the private eye. A no-nonsense loner, working on the margins of society, working in the darkness to shine a little light. The reality is a little different - but no less fascinating. In The Legendary Detective, John Walton offers a sweeping history of the American private detective in reality and myth, from the earliest agencies to the hard-boiled heights of the 1930s and '40s. Drawing on previously untapped archival accounts of actual detective work, Walton traces both the growth of major private detective agencies like Pinkerton, which became powerful bulwarks against social and labor unrest, and the motley, unglamorous work of small-time operatives. He then goes on to show us how writers like Dashiell Hammett and editors of sensational pulp magazines like Black Mask embellished on actual experiences and fashioned an image of the PI as a compelling, even admirable, necessary evil, doing society's dirty work while adhering to a self-imposed moral code. Scandals, public investigations, and regulations brought the boom years of private agencies to an end in the late 1930s, Walton explains, in the process fully cementing the shift from reality to fantasy."--Publisher's website