Captain Thomas J. Tunney wasn't just writing history; he was reliving it. Throttled! is his personal memoir of leading the New York Police Bomb Squad during one of America's most shadowy conflicts: the German sabotage campaign on U.S. soil in 1915-1916.

The Story

The United States was officially neutral in the Great War, but New York's docks were a battleground. German intelligence, working with local anarchist cells, was systematically bombing American factories, freighters, and rail lines. Their goal was to cripple the supply chain to Britain and France. Tunney and his small, gritty team had to piece together the plot from fragments: a mysterious suitcase left on a pier, a half-burned coded message, whispers in the immigrant neighborhoods of the Lower East Side. The narrative follows their painstaking detective work as they identify key agents, intercept bomb materials, and race against time to prevent disasters like the catastrophic Black Tom explosion in Jersey City.

Why You Should Read It

What makes this book so gripping is its perspective. This isn't a dry historical overview. You're getting the story from the cop on the beat. Tunney's voice is direct, sometimes frustrated, and often amazed at the scale of the operation he uncovered. You feel the pressure he was under, the dead ends, and the sudden breakthroughs. He doesn't paint himself as a superhero, which makes his successes more real. The book also offers a fascinating, ground-level look at a forgotten chapter of WWI and the tense political atmosphere in America's largest city.

Final Verdict

Throttled! is a must-read for true crime fans and history lovers who want their nonfiction to have the pace of a detective novel. It's perfect for anyone interested in early 20th-century New York, the origins of modern counter-terrorism, or just a brilliantly told true story of espionage and pursuit. If you think the past is boring, let Captain Tunney prove you wrong.