Politics and the Private Eye: Ideology and Aesthetics in the Hardboiled Tradition

"Politics and the Private Eye" uses Sara Paretsky's 2003 detective novel, Blacklist, to launch an investigation of how ideology and aesthetics converge to make the hardboiled detective story a uniquely adaptable popular form, one especially ripe for reflecting and confronting contemporary issues. The study begins by examining the roots of the hardboiled form, assessing how and why early masters shaped and used the genre, thereby laying the groundwork for authors to come. It closes with an analysis of how several current writers have responded, via the hardboiled detective story, to the cultural and political developments spurred by September 11th and its aftermath.