Tangled Up in Blue

Zusatztext Brooks has an anthropologist's ear for the language of policing, jumping from the reports full of passive-voice bureaucratese to the darkly humorous, profanity-laden shoptalk. She zips from hilarious descriptions . . . to bone-dry observations. . . . [Brooks's] style recalls the work of immersion journalists like George Plimpton, Ted Conover and Barbara Ehrenreichwho happens to be Brooks's mother. Brooks makes this part of the story, nesting in a book on policing a beautifully written mini-memoir about growing up the daughter of a famous activist and writer, who disdains the police but also values a certain toughness. New York Times Book Review Tangled Up in Blue is a wonderfully insightful book that provides a lens to critically analyze urban policing and a road map for how our most dispossessed citizens may better relate to those sworn to protect and serve. The Washington Post Rosa Brooks's Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City promises without question to be the cop memoir for the late 2010s and early 2020s. An accomplished scholar, journalist, and author who has moved in the loftiest legal, nonprofit, and foreign policy circles, Brooks brings a distinctive perspective to the police memoir genre, which boasts few women's voices to begin with . . . But Brooks's book is also about more than just policing as an institution, or even her own experiences as a cop: It is a deeply personal family memoir, and a meditation on questions of race, class, gender, and family inheritances. New Republic Remarkable . . . Brooks has produced an engaging page-turner that also outlines many broadly applicable lessons and sensible policy reforms. Foreign Affairs Through evocative storytelling coupled with research and analysis. . . Brooks discusses the complex intersections of race and socioeconomic status in interactions between civilians and police while highlighting the often blunt enforcement of laws. A thoughtful, piercing read, Tangled Up in Blue creates nuanced portrayals of her fellow officers, the members of the community they served, and the people affected by the criminal justice system in the United States. Booklist Delivers a nuanced and revealing chronicle of her experiences training to be a reserve police officer in Washington, D.C. . . . [Brooks] vividly sketches her patrol partners and the D.C. residents they encounter, and highlights problems caused by mass incarceration, racial discrimination, and lawmakers turning 'trivial forms of misbehavior' into jailable offenses. . . . This immersive, illuminating, and timely account takes a meaningful step toward bridging the gap between what American society asks of police and what they're trained to deliver. Publishers Weekly (starred review) A thoughtful book that offers abundant material to rile upand edifyBlue Lives Matter and Defund the Police advocates alike. Kirkus Drawing from years of monthly twenty-four-hour dutyand immersion journalismBrooks guides us past two barbed-wire-encircled arguments ('the police are racist and unnecessary' and 'get rid of a few bad apples and all's fine') to a radically better way of staying safe. A brilliant, important, timely book and gobble-up read. Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right Tangled Up in Blue is a tour de police force that is disconcerting, elegiac, and mad funny, frequently all on the same page. With wicked intelligence, sparkling writing, and boundless empathy, Rosa Brooks tells cop stories out of school that will inspire and enrage everyone from woke activists to the 'blue lives matter' crew. Nine-one-one to my fellow citizensproceed to read this book immediately. Paul Butler, author of ...

“Brooks has an anthropologist’s ear for the language of policing, jumping from the reports full of passive-voice bureaucratese to the darkly humorous, profanity-laden shoptalk. She zips from hilarious descriptions . . . to bone-dry observations. . . . [Brooks’s] style recalls the work of immersion journalists like George Plimpton, Ted Conover and Barbara Ehrenreich—who happens to be Brooks’s mother. Brooks makes this part of the story, nesting in a book on policing a beautifully written mini-memoir about growing up the daughter of a famous activist and writer, who disdains the police but also values a certain toughness.” —New York Times Book Review

“Tangled Up in Blue is a wonderfully insightful book that provides a lens to critically analyze urban policing and a road map for how our most dispossessed citizens may better relate to those sworn to protect and serve.” —The Washington Post

“Rosa Brooks’s Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City promises without question to be the cop memoir for the late 2010s and early 2020s. An accomplished scholar, journalist, and author who has moved in the loftiest legal, nonprofit, and foreign policy circles, Brooks brings a distinctive perspective to the police memoir genre, which boasts few women’s voices to begin with . . . But Brooks’s book is also about more than just policing as an institution, or even her own experiences as a cop: It is a deeply personal family memoir, and a meditation on questions of race, class, gender, and family inheritances.” —New Republic
 
“Remarkable . . . Brooks has produced an engaging page-turner that also outlines many broadly applicable lessons and sensible policy reforms.” —Foreign Affairs

“Through evocative storytelling coupled with research and analysis. . . Brooks discusses the complex intersections of race and socioeconomic status in interactions between civilians and police while highlighting the often blunt enforcement of laws. A thoughtful, piercing read, Tangled Up in Blue creates nuanced portrayals of her fellow officers, the members of the community they served, and the people affected by the criminal justice system in the United States.” —Booklist

“Delivers a nuanced and revealing chronicle of her experiences training to be a reserve police officer in Washington, D.C. . . . [Brooks] vividly sketches her patrol partners and the D.C. residents they encounter, and highlights problems caused by mass incarceration, racial discrimination, and lawmakers turning ‘trivial forms of misbehavior’ into jailable offenses. . . . This immersive, illuminating, and timely account takes a meaningful step toward bridging the gap between what American society asks of police and what they’re trained to deliver.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
“A thoughtful book that offers abundant material to rile up—and edify—Blue Lives Matter and Defund the Police advocates alike.” —Kirkus

“Drawing from years of monthly twenty-four-hour duty—and immersion journalism—Brooks guides us past two barbed-wire-encircled arguments (‘the police are racist and unnecessary’ and ‘get rid of a few bad apples and all’s fine’) to a radically better way of staying safe. A brilliant, important, timely book and gobble-up read.” —Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right

“Tangled Up in Blue is a tour de police force that is disconcerting, elegiac, and mad funny, frequently all on the same page. With wicked intelligence, sparkling writing, and boundless empathy, Rosa Brooks tells cop stories out of school that will inspire and enrage everyone from woke activists to the ‘blue lives matter’ crew. Nine-one-one to my fellow citizens—proceed to read this book immediately.” —Paul Butler, author of Chokehold: Policing Black Men
 
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