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xtrems876's review
4.0
Sometimes the author gets hung up on providing example after example after example to make one point. Perhaps the goal of that is to really drive the point home, but I found it tiring.
Nevertheless it was still a very engaging book even though it wasn't entirely and fully relevant to me as a european.
Nevertheless it was still a very engaging book even though it wasn't entirely and fully relevant to me as a european.
ablake135's review against another edition
5.0
I believe that everyone in America can benefit from this book. If you truly believe that the police are here to serve and protect the greater good, this book will tell you exactly why they don’t.
Mr. Williams does a great job at providing evidence, statistics, and quotes that back up his points.
Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the police force (history, corruption, riot police, etc) and how the police have evolved throughout history.
Mr. Williams does a great job at providing evidence, statistics, and quotes that back up his points.
Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the police force (history, corruption, riot police, etc) and how the police have evolved throughout history.
saulprompt's review
5.0
This is the most comprehensive history of police corruption, abuse, and power that I have read. Where many books cover a few of the topics within, Williams has compiled a case that spells out the deep rooted problems of policing through its various phases in the US. If anybody wonders why ACAB is written on walls, this book has the answer.
bookanonjeff's review
3.0
Very Thorough Research. This book both predates and succeeds (and even cites) Radley Balko's stronger work RISE OF THE WARRIOR COP: THE MILITARIZATION OF AMERICA'S POLICE FORCES. While it cites *volumes* more incidents than Balko's work, and is thus very illuminating because of it, this book has a fatal flaw that is lacking in Balko's work - namely, that it constantly comes at the issue of police brutality as a form of racial and/ or class warfare/ oppression. Its discussions of Anarchism and the optimal state of having no police force whatsoever is great (and lacking in Balko's work), but that strength isn't enough to overcome the flaw of being so hyper-biased throughout. Still, like Michelle Alexander's THE NEW JIM CROW (which this book also cites), this book - initially written roughly 8 yrs before Balko's, and updated 3 yrs after Balko's - is a GREAT read for any who seek the truth that in America, police truly are the enemy of us all.
solitract13's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Police brutality
catisforcatthew's review against another edition
5.0
This took me forever to read with my pandemic brain but I'm so glad I did. Really excellent. Too many thoughts.
muffmacguff's review
3.0
If you're completely new to the subject, it's full of extremely useful and exhaustively-researched data and historical examples. If you're already anti-police, even if you're not fully an abolitionist, I think you can reasonably just read the Afterword ("Making Police Obsolete") and refer to earlier in the book as needed.
indigonight's review
5.0
An excellent socio-political analysis of the role of police in American society. The writing is not dull, which makes it a digestible read.
It does a very good job at explaining how while the police are a manifestation of the state's power, they are also not entirely accountable to the state. It is a very sobering book in parts, and the stories of police entrapment, surveillance, and other abuses of power from the 1960s to the War on Terror are chilling.
While Vitale's book the End of Policing had me advocating all the ways the function of police could be better performed if replaced, this book has me pondering and thinking more deeply why the police are an institution that cannot be allowed to continue to exist.
It does a very good job at explaining how while the police are a manifestation of the state's power, they are also not entirely accountable to the state. It is a very sobering book in parts, and the stories of police entrapment, surveillance, and other abuses of power from the 1960s to the War on Terror are chilling.
While Vitale's book the End of Policing had me advocating all the ways the function of police could be better performed if replaced, this book has me pondering and thinking more deeply why the police are an institution that cannot be allowed to continue to exist.