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Joseph Wambaugh
Joseph Wambaugh, a former LAPD detective sergeant, is the bestselling author of eighteen prior works of fiction and nonfiction, including The Choirboys and The Onion Field. Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times' said, "Joseph Wambaugh is one of those Los Angeles authors whose popular success... show more

Joseph Wambaugh, a former LAPD detective sergeant, is the bestselling author of eighteen prior works of fiction and nonfiction, including The Choirboys and The Onion Field. Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times' said, "Joseph Wambaugh is one of those Los Angeles authors whose popular success always has overshadowed his importance as a writer. Wambaugh is an important writer not simply because he's ambitious and technically accomplished, but also because he 'owns' a critical slice of L.A.'s literary real estate: the Los Angeles Police Department -- not just its inner workings, but also its relationship to the city's political establishment and to its intricately enmeshed social classes. There is no other American metropolis whose civic history is so inextricably intertwined with the history of its police department. That alone would make Wambaugh's work significant, but the importance of his best fiction and nonfiction is amplified by his unequaled ability to capture the nuances of the LAPD's isolated and essentially Hobbesian tribal culture."Understandably, then, Wambaugh, who lives in California, is known as the "cop-author" with emphasis on the former, since, according to him, most of his fantasies involve the arrest and prosecution of half of California's motorists. Wambaugh still prefers the company of police officers and interviews hundreds of them for story material. However, he is aghast that these days most of the young cops drink iced tea or light beer, both of which he finds exceedingly vile, causing him to obsessively fume with Hamlet that, 'The time is out of joint.' He expects to die in a road rage encounter. For more information please visit www.josephwambaugh.net or www.hollywoodmoon.com.
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Community Reviews
debbiekrenzer
debbiekrenzer rated it 8 years ago
Very interesting true story. A lot of it involved the trial of this maniac. I can't believe none of the lawyers spoke of the fact that the arsonist walked right past a toddler and felt nothing knowing what he was about to do. I enjoyed it for the most part, however, the trial part with all the legal...
Xxertz
Xxertz rated it 9 years ago
BLUF: Good for those who like to know the background of all players and enjoy true crime that reads like a novel.Plot: The Onion Field is a nonfiction account of the kidnappings of Officers Ian Campbell and Karl Hettinger and murder of Ian Campbell by Gregory Ulas Powell and Jimmy Lee Smith. Powell ...
Lisa (Harmony)
Lisa (Harmony) rated it 11 years ago
This book was on a list of recommended mysteries, and was found in the mystery section--yet I don't think it really belongs there--both because this is no whodunnit, but also because it transcends that genre. We follow "Bumper" Morgan through the last three days of this beat in 1970s Los Angeles bef...
sandin954
sandin954 rated it 12 years ago
The author was still working as a policeman when this book was published so I felt like I was getting the true inside story of walking a beat in L.A. during the early seventies. "Bumper" Morgan is a larger than life character and this chronicle of his last few days walking a beat before retirement ...
MAS
MAS rated it 12 years ago
Wambaugh's cast of misfits keeps you engaged throughout. The master of police procedurals, he reveals the inner workings of a unique subculture in dress-blues—fascinating. It's obvious he knows his way around.I didn't find this sordid little tale particularly mysterious or suspenseful, but I suspe...
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