{"product_id":"night-hawk-4","title":"Night Hawk","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eUnmasks the long-forgotten story of how a flying, superhuman vigilante played a pivotal role in the founding of the American labor movement.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn July 5, 1828, more than a century before Superman arrived on Earth, a superhero took flight in Philadelphia’s night sky. Buried on page three of a small local newspaper, the announcement of his arrival appeared under the title “The Night-Hawk, No. 1” with a cryptic epigraph from \u003ci\u003eRomeo and Juliet\u003c\/i\u003e: “I’ll be a candleholder and look on.” Who and what was the Night Hawk? As Matthew Warner Osborn reveals, this was the sobriquet of a mysterious columnist for the weekly \u003ci\u003eMechanics’ Free Press\u003c\/i\u003e, the first radical socialist newspaper in America. Dressed in a mysterious cloak, the Night Hawk soared over Philadelphia, revealing the evil crimes of prominent gentlemen, fighting murderous criminals, and calling out fraudulent moral authorities. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Night Hawk was the ingenious invention of an impoverished actor, Cornelius A. Logan, who created the character as a public champion of Philadelphia’s Working Men’s movement, the first successful American labor party. The Night Hawk’s nocturnal adventures transformed their socialist ideology into an entertaining fantasy that dramatized the struggle against industrial exploitation and the degradation of working people. The success of the character made Logan into a celebrity, and he went on to become a popular and innovative comedian on the antebellum stage.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA harbinger of the superheroes we know today, the Night Hawk promises to illuminate dark secrets from the past, but he can also shed light on our present. He ignites our need to see corrupt elites unmasked and held accountable for their actions, all while protecting the innocent and oppressed. Americans have always loved to fantasize about powerful superheroes who hide behind masks while chasing bad guys, and Osborn shows in this entertaining history how the Night Hawk was perhaps the first standard bearer for that enduring mystique. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57297902600536,"sku":"9780226851457","price":104.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/night-hawk-4","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}