Blue Blood

by Edward Conlon

Book Overview

"A great book... with the testimonial force equal to that of Michael Herr's Dispatches."--Time

Edward Conlon's Blue Blood is an ambitious and extraordinary work of nonfiction about what it means to protect, to serve, and to defend among the ranks of New York's finest. Told by a fourth generation NYPD, this is an anecdotal history of New York as experienced through its police force, and depicts a portrait of the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594480737
• ISBN13: 9781594480737
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 576 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.2" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Beautifully Written

Bravo to Detective Conlon. This is an honest book and beautifully written. Those that are expecting a typical cop book or your run of the mill true crime, will be disappointed and perhaps those are the folks giving the negative reviews. This book is written like prose and is gorgeous to read. It's not a fast read, but rather meant to be digested and paid attention to. I look forward to seeing what Conlon writes next.

Brilliant writing; Fascinating story

When I heard that author Edward Conlon still serves in the NYPD, I was skeptical about whether he was really free to publish a truly candid account of life inside one of the nation's largest police departments. Yet, Detective Conlon does just that and more in a remarkably frank, funny, thoughtful and brilliantly written memoir. Blue Blood stands out primarily because of Detective Conlon's sharp wit and humor. His vivid descriptions of the characters, customs and encounters that dominate a street cop's life had me laughing out loud. Likewise, his wry observations and amusing insights into the absurd aspects of NYPD bureaucracy (i.e., the petty bosses, the pervasive internal politics, the inane departmental regulations, etc.) made for entertaining fodder. In fact, Conlon's colorful writing and artful phrasing so impressed me that after finishing the CD/audio version of Blue Blood, I bought the paperback just so that I could re-read and highlight the exceptional prose. Blue Blood also takes an absorbing, unvarnished look at the serious side of urban crime fighting including the tragic conditions that police routinely encounter, the ever-present dangers that confront officers in the line of duty, the devastating mistakes that can sometimes occur in high crime environments, and the flawed criminal justice procedures that too often fail to keep "perps" off the streets. What proves most interesting about this book, however, is that even in the face of such trials and frustrations, there is no sense of bitterness or defeat. Instead, Blue Blood paints an encouraging picture of policing. And in Conlon, you definitely see a good man who thoroughly believes in "the Job" and who relishes in carrying out his calling as a cop. I absolutely loved Blue Blood. The book is lengthy (559 pages), but it is well worth the time. I highly recommend this amazing work.

An excellent book from a good cop

BLUE BLOOD is an absorbing first-person account of Edward Conlon's time in the NYPD that takes us far beyond "Third Watch" and "NYPD Blue." Conlon touches on the family roots and influences that impelled him to become a policeman after graduating from Harvard -- the uncles and cousins in "the Job," and particularly his father, a career FBI agent -- and on embarrassing moments in youthful misdemeanor and on the streets of the South Bronx. He describes the banality and abusive stupidity within the NYPD's organization so clearly that one wonders why anyone would put up with it -- even before considering the dismal pay and ever-present hazards that go with the Job. Yet Conlon also has a storyteller's ear and a fine ironic humor, and the moments of byplay with his partners and with perps waiting to cycle through the System had me rolling in laughter. BLUE BLOOD is a wonderful reprise of the NYPD's recent history. As Conlon describes his passage from probie to the detective's Gold Shield, we also see the larger forces that have forever been a part of the NYPD: the at-times stupefying bureaucracy; the pettiness and incoherence of too many bosses -- and the redemptive satisfaction of working for a good one; the insularity of police officers from the community they serve (and why this is); the always at-hand doorways to corruption. We get the Real Deal behind the French Connection, an alternate (but not unsympathetic) take on Frank Serpico, and the damage caused by the Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo cases. While, under the broader auspices of Rudy Giuliani, the NYPD cut New York City's previously horrendous rates of violent crime through tough street enforcement, similar anti-narcotics operations seem hopelessly swamped by both the volume of drugs on the street and the obtuseness of grand juries and prosecutors. Other reviewers have complained about the size and density of BLUE BLOOD. It is dense -- I skimmed some pages myself, and the book is not a strict chronological account -- but it is neither mindless nor gratuitous. As a native New Yorker with heartstrings still in the Big City, perhaps I had a nostalgic interest in Conlon's story. In any case, I was rewarded. It's clear that, despite all, Edward Conlon likes being a cop and is good at it. He is not alone, and the good citizens of New York had best be thankful for him and his fellow officers.

A book about the things that cops forget every day

I am a New York City Police Department sergeant with a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Dartmouth College and a master's from Harvard University. I attended Stuyvesant High School in New York City prior to college. You could imagine that the release of this book was intrigued me, and I bought it to see how Ed Conlon's experiences compared to mine.Having worked in many of Brooklyn's busiest areas since 1997 (East Flatbush, Flatbush, Crown Heights, Brownsville, etc: the 067, 070, 071 and 077 Precincts), I can say that Conlon's relation of New York City street life is both colorful and accurate. He expertly relates the boredom of endless waiting for something to happen, the general futility of most of our efforts, and a mistrust of the public that stems from its inability to feel, firsthand, what a cop feels when he has to make the most important decisions of his life, with the future of citizens in his hands.One thing that is missing from the book is the life of the patrolman, which has yet to be adequately covered by any good, recent nonfiction work. When I wrote to The New Yorker in 1999 in response to one of Conlon's magazine pieces, I expressed that Conlon seemed to elevate his street-level drug enforcement exploits at the expense of the dignity of the officers who answer two dozen 911 unpredictable calls a day in the most dangerous parts of the city. These officers see the full range of the urban drama, and their stories are always disjunctive: they solve the problem and leave, be it a false burglar alarm or domestic homicide. The story ends for them as it gets passed off to the next group of specialists. It is one of the most frusturating things a person can do.Now that the book is out, we see that Conlon has chosen the particular track he has because he never served in a patrol precinct and this is foreign ground to him. Before I say anything else that sounds negative, I have to clearly state that given his chosen career track, Conlon's relation of police life there and in general is largely flawless. While it is not complete, it does not have to be to be excellent nonetheless. My differences with Conlon are largely philosophical and in the end, biased: I believe that urban precinct sector and beat patrol is the most raw and meaningful story of policing from almost any perspective, and I would not trade it for a lifetime of narcotics enforcement.These are the things that other reviewers are right about: It is certainly the best cop book written yet, but critics are still free to wonder exactly what this means in the larger context of the nonficiton memoir genre. It is indeed a bit long, but if you are patient it will reward you with its broad, historical grounding. Yes, that Colon went to Harvard is certainly the gimmick that enabled him to undertake this project, but this is more of a testament to the problems with The New Yorker than with Conlon. If a cop with a degree from CUNY showed up at the New Yorker's door with the exact same ma

Best book of 2004?

Ed Conlon's "Blue Blood" is a masterpiece: a gritty, no-nonsense look at law enforcement in New York City, with prose that rises far above the standard police tell-all. Part memoir, part expose, this book grabs your attention, and holds it while Conlon takes you through the criminal justice system of New York, all the while pointing out its absurdity and promise. Although it's a deeply personal book, Conlon's observations are so sharp and fair that you will trust his reporting. At this point, you have to consider this book as a serious candidate for most literary awards.