I have a wealthy man in the American West who decides to put together a sort of vigilante crew in order to help justice be done despite government corruption and incompetence. He's a pragmatist and is doing this because he thinks it'll be effective, but I'd also like him to have some literary or philosophical inspiration. Robin Hood, for example, but I don't think he's looking at wealth redistribution as one of his primary goals. More like intimidation and judicious violence. Can anyone help me find literary support for this sort of behaviour? The story will happen in the 1880s, probably, so anything written after that time won't work. Thoughts?
Being the American West, The US Constitution would probably be a good start. This was also the era of Manifest Destiny and pretty much the peak of colonialism. I'm sure there is plenty of literature from that time period around that endorses using the violence of civilization to save people.
That's the rub right there. Pragmatism is its own philosophy, and by being anti-ideological it almost becomes ideology in the same way that atheism can almost be considered a religion (devotion to an antithesis has the same flavor as devotion to a thesis). As for your idea, I think you hit the Western nail straight on the head. The government is weak, corrupt, and abstract on the frontier, which has a Latin American vibe in that power is concentrated in the land owners, labor barons, local strongmen, bosses, banks, and regulators. There's nobody to protect you so "real men" had to create their own justice. As for literary inspirations? That's a toughie. Blood Meridian comes first to mind, which I know you've read, but that's probably a little off the map for what you're looking for. Maybe Teddy Roosevelt and Black Jack Pershing? Probably not that great either because they were agents of the government. I'd almost be tempted to stray into Latin America and check out old revolutionary heroes (heroes being relative to your perspective) like Simon Bolivar, Augusto Sandino, and mayyyybe Fidel Castro. He was a died-in-the-wool pragmatism in the beginning who only picked up the mantle of Communism when it became convenient and politically expedient for him to do so. Che Guevara, on the other hand, was a keep-it-real uber ideologue who would (and did) do anything to protect his beliefs regardless of the consequences. I know this probably isn't what you're looking for, but it can be tough to separate pragmatic ideologues (Castro) from ideological pragmatists (Stalin?), if that makes any sense. I wish I had a specific book for you but nothing is coming to mind. Maybe later... ETA: have you looked into the Pinkerton detective agency yet? That's essentially a vigilante crew that was hired by the bosses and government agencies to spread "intimidation and judicious violence" in the old West. In fact, failing to mention them in a story like yours might have consequences depending on your readership.
I'm looking for something my character would have read and be able to use for an excuse, so I need something that would have been in existence during the time period. So a lot of your guys are good for MY inspiration, but won't work for him! And, yes, for sure the Pinkertons should be mentioned. They're essentially the opposite side of the same coin - my guys, despite being funded by a rich guy, are fighting for the weak and disenfranchised.
I hear you. Not sure what he would have been likely to have picked up during the time in question, but I'm thinking his political coming-of-age would have had everything a lot to do with the Civil War. Unless he's very young or a dilettante, he would have lived through it if your story takes place in the 1880s. So maybe there's something in there? It wasn't a terribly literary time, particularly on the Western frontier where civilization and printing presses were scarce, but there's probably some kind of essay or treatise that he might have read. That era isn't really my specialty, so there might be something more definitive that was making the rounds of the erudite back then. Does he have to have read something to gain his inspiration? What if his father/brothers/uncles were killed during the Civil War? That could go a couple of ways depending on whether your MC sided with the Union or Confederacy. Not trying to talk you out of everything... just thinking out loud (though, like the Pinkertons, you'll probably have to mention the Civil War anyway since it shaped the zeitgeist and mindset of everyone who had a political conscience at the time).
This guy is a secondary character... I'm already using the Civil War pretty heavily for a couple of my MCs' motivations, so I was hoping for something different for this guy. Something a bit more cerebral, so that one of the MCs can call him out on being good on theory but not great on practice (since he's sitting on such a pile of money himself...)
Speaking of being good in theory but not great in practice, the Communist Manifesto's first English translation took place in 1850.
I was thinking about a little Marx, yeah. Das Kapital came out in 1867... looks like English in 1887. But maybe my guy reads German...
Das Kapital reminded me, Plato's Republic is pretty much all about defining justice and would most likely have been required reading for someone described as cerebral in the 1880's.
I don't know if this is what you're looking for: In England there were people such as William Goodwin whose ideas were considered to be anarchistic, and John Stuart Mill who spoke of social liberty. Their ideas would most likely have been known across the Atlantic too, they were really well known, and within your time frame, I think. In America Josiah Warren was regarded as the first American anarchist, but I don't know how easy it is to find writings of his. Your story sounds really interesting, and the best of luck with your research.
You don't say exactly where he is, but I assume a wealthy man would have access to several big-city newspapers, which would have described the vigilante activity in those cities, especially about the Regulator movement.
