Paul Bacon’s Bad Cop: New York’s Least Likely Police Officer Tells All is a good book. It’s a quick read and a nice look inside the NYPD. My problem is that the hits a little too close to home. Bacon is a self-professed liberal who only stayed in the police department a few years. Errrrr… Sounds like me. But I…
Michael East is a veteran police officer in Saginaw, Michigan. He’s also an excellent writer. He has a new book coming out. Beyond Hope? Saginaw, not that you’d know, is a pretty messed up place of rusted industry and abandonment. It’s lost about half its population. Even Habitat for Humanity is helping tear it down. Mike’s book is great. I…
My friend Dan Baum has written an excellent book about New Orleans. Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans. Baum was the New Yorker reporter covering the aftermath of the flood. And it’s not just me who says this book is great. The New York Times gave it a great review. You can read an excerpt here. Then go…
When I was a cop in Baltimore, I kind of assumed I was the only active police officer going for a PhD at one fo them fancy graduate schools. I wasn’t. I’ve also assumed I’m the only former Baltimore police officer to write a book based on time in the Eastern District. I’m not. I’m not certain why I only…
A review written by me of The Thin Black Line: published in the Washington Post’s Book World. It’s a collection of stories told by black law-enforcement officers. Not a great book, unfortunately. But the review is well worth reading: THE THIN BLACK LINE: True Stories by Black Law Enforcement Officers Policing America’s Meanest Streets. By Hugh Holton. Reviewed by Peter…
Two nights ago I read Ta-Nehisi Coates The Beautiful Struggle: A father, two sons, and an unlikely road to manhood (Spiegel and Grau). It’s about a man, a black man, growing up in Baltimore. Despite the horribly sappy title, it’s neither horrible nor sappy. In fact, it’s quite good and is written with a very strong 1st-person voice. If you…