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The New Centurions
From the baby-faced rookies to hashmark heroes, they are besieged men, dealing daily with a world coming apart. Hunting killers, rousting whores, quelling gang wars, fighting corruption, they risk death every day...every night. They are the Los Angeles blues - a new breed of cop.
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
439 people are currently reading
1293 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Wambaugh
56 books753 followersJoseph Aloysius Wambaugh Jr. was an American writer known for his fictional and nonfictional accounts of police work in the United States. Many of his novels are set in Los Angeles and its surroundings and feature Los Angeles police officers as protagonists. He won three Edgar Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. Before his writing career Wambaugh received an associate of arts degree from Chaffey College and joined the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in 1960. He served for 14 years, rising from patrolman to detective sergeant.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 148 reviews
February 4, 2013
Serge Duran, Gus Plebesly, and Roy Fehler are classmates at the police academy and take to the streets after graduation. But will being police officers be as they thought?
The New Centurions follows the lives of three young men for five years, starting from their police academy days and into the Watts riots of 1965. I was expecting a simple cop story but got so much more.
Joseph Wambaugh was a cop before he was a writer and it shows. Both the cops and the people they encounter are three dimensional. Duran struggles with his Mexican heritage. Plebesly deals with being a coward. And Fehler's an asshole until something happens to change his point of view. All three men go through considerable changes after their academy days. People fall in love, have kids, get divorced, have drinking problems, it's all there.
The New Centurions deals a lot with how the police view the people they're protecting and vice versa. Rather than portray the police as heartless fascists or white knights, they all have their flaws.
I can't really get into specifics of the plot because there isn't one. The chapters alternate between the three leads in different stages of their careers, showing their triumphs and failures, leading up to the aftermath of the Watts riots. While I've got it shelved as a crime book, it's more like a character study. There's a fair amount of dark humor as well.
The New Centurions is highly recommended. Give it read if you want a story about cops being cops.
The New Centurions follows the lives of three young men for five years, starting from their police academy days and into the Watts riots of 1965. I was expecting a simple cop story but got so much more.
Joseph Wambaugh was a cop before he was a writer and it shows. Both the cops and the people they encounter are three dimensional. Duran struggles with his Mexican heritage. Plebesly deals with being a coward. And Fehler's an asshole until something happens to change his point of view. All three men go through considerable changes after their academy days. People fall in love, have kids, get divorced, have drinking problems, it's all there.
The New Centurions deals a lot with how the police view the people they're protecting and vice versa. Rather than portray the police as heartless fascists or white knights, they all have their flaws.
I can't really get into specifics of the plot because there isn't one. The chapters alternate between the three leads in different stages of their careers, showing their triumphs and failures, leading up to the aftermath of the Watts riots. While I've got it shelved as a crime book, it's more like a character study. There's a fair amount of dark humor as well.
The New Centurions is highly recommended. Give it read if you want a story about cops being cops.
September 12, 2013
Good solid dramatic police fiction. Joseph Wambaugh's debut novel and one of his best. We follow three L.A.P.D. officers for five years (1960-1965) joining them as they are entering the academy and following them up to and through the riots in the Watts area of Los Angeles in 1965.
My father was a career police officer for twenty-four years. I grew up during the seventies and Wambaugh's books could always be found in our house. Like many other cops (and non police as well) during that time period my father loved his work. Before Wambaugh (usually) the American police officer was portrayed in fiction as either a complete and total criminal using his badge for personal gain (not to mention lazy and fat) or the police officer was a piece of granite. Not prey to the normal weaknesses and fears of everyone else.Incorruptible, pure, routinely brave, fit and trim and a workaholic (See Sgt. Joe Friday).
There were exceptions to this of course, but they were few and far between. Also ,by the late sixties, changes to this formula were beginning to appear more frequently. But for the most part things were set and comfortable. Then in 1970 along comes Joseph Wambaugh with The New Centurions and the whole structure gets turned over.
To begin with Wambugh was a officer with the Los Angeles Police Department (1960-1974) when The New Centurions came out. His work had a legitimacy that others lacked for he knew what he was writing about. I've been a police officer for twelve years and I can testify that there is a grit in his details that can only come from having been a cop for many years. The way he describes the residences, the smells and sounds and overall behavior of people - both the police and the citizenry. There is a ring of truth that no amount of research can capture. It comes out in this book and readers responded to it. This was something unusual.
Second Wambaugh wrote about three ordinary police officers. These officers were not Joe Friday or Frank Bullitt. They can be brave, conscientious and competent, but there are times when they are lazy, cowardly, self-centered and abuse their positions. Sometimes all within the space of a few hours or days. The three protagonists are not always very likable, but then there are times that the reader does find themselves rooting for them. In other words just like real life.
Third there is no central, dominating villain that the three protagonists have to take on and bring down. No witness to protect from "The Syndicate", no crazed serial killer stalking the streets of L.A., no gang of brilliant robbers that they have to match wits with. Instead the three officers deal with situations that are all to real. Situations involving squalor, pathos, bizarre behavior, boredom, fear, humor, tragedy and very little gun-play. The novel is very episodic (some more effective than others), but this is also police work.
I work a twelve hour shift and in the space of one shift or my entire work week (4x12hr shifts) I will sometimes deal with dozens of calls - usually each one very different from another. I've never been in a gunfight though I have had to tussle with more then a few suspects over the years. For example I can't count how many times I've responded to barking dog complaints, shoplifters in custody and missing children calls, but I have yet to encounter a Neil Macauley (Heat).
The New Centurions shows this aspect of police work. Though it is now over forty years old nothing has changed. Okay that's not entirely true. There have been changes. But the basics remain the same. I have to admit that I don't care for much of Wambaugh's books, but this one is on the mark.
My father was a career police officer for twenty-four years. I grew up during the seventies and Wambaugh's books could always be found in our house. Like many other cops (and non police as well) during that time period my father loved his work. Before Wambaugh (usually) the American police officer was portrayed in fiction as either a complete and total criminal using his badge for personal gain (not to mention lazy and fat) or the police officer was a piece of granite. Not prey to the normal weaknesses and fears of everyone else.Incorruptible, pure, routinely brave, fit and trim and a workaholic (See Sgt. Joe Friday).
There were exceptions to this of course, but they were few and far between. Also ,by the late sixties, changes to this formula were beginning to appear more frequently. But for the most part things were set and comfortable. Then in 1970 along comes Joseph Wambaugh with The New Centurions and the whole structure gets turned over.
To begin with Wambugh was a officer with the Los Angeles Police Department (1960-1974) when The New Centurions came out. His work had a legitimacy that others lacked for he knew what he was writing about. I've been a police officer for twelve years and I can testify that there is a grit in his details that can only come from having been a cop for many years. The way he describes the residences, the smells and sounds and overall behavior of people - both the police and the citizenry. There is a ring of truth that no amount of research can capture. It comes out in this book and readers responded to it. This was something unusual.
Second Wambaugh wrote about three ordinary police officers. These officers were not Joe Friday or Frank Bullitt. They can be brave, conscientious and competent, but there are times when they are lazy, cowardly, self-centered and abuse their positions. Sometimes all within the space of a few hours or days. The three protagonists are not always very likable, but then there are times that the reader does find themselves rooting for them. In other words just like real life.
Third there is no central, dominating villain that the three protagonists have to take on and bring down. No witness to protect from "The Syndicate", no crazed serial killer stalking the streets of L.A., no gang of brilliant robbers that they have to match wits with. Instead the three officers deal with situations that are all to real. Situations involving squalor, pathos, bizarre behavior, boredom, fear, humor, tragedy and very little gun-play. The novel is very episodic (some more effective than others), but this is also police work.
I work a twelve hour shift and in the space of one shift or my entire work week (4x12hr shifts) I will sometimes deal with dozens of calls - usually each one very different from another. I've never been in a gunfight though I have had to tussle with more then a few suspects over the years. For example I can't count how many times I've responded to barking dog complaints, shoplifters in custody and missing children calls, but I have yet to encounter a Neil Macauley (Heat).
The New Centurions shows this aspect of police work. Though it is now over forty years old nothing has changed. Okay that's not entirely true. There have been changes. But the basics remain the same. I have to admit that I don't care for much of Wambaugh's books, but this one is on the mark.
April 9, 2017
I first read this book back in the late seventies, when I was a rookie cop. Wambaugh's books and movie were all the rage way back then. The New Centurions was his first book, which he wrote while he still worked as a Los Angeles Police Detective. Wambaugh pioneered the crime fiction genre, taking readers where they'd never been before, inside the police car, to learn about the men and women behind the badge.
We see how the job affects cops as opposed to how they affect their job. The New Centurions in this story are three new recruits. The story follows them from the police academy to the streets of L.A. in 1960, where they learn the hard realities about life on the street.
I found the prose a bit mundane about half way through the book, but that is how police work is most of the time...95% boring and the other 5% running around with your hair on fire. This story takes you to the dark side when one of the cops gets shot, and later, during the race riots.
If you want the real story on what lies behind the badge, this book is a must read.
On a personal note, Joseph Wambaugh was my inspiration, and has given me some personal advice for my own writing.
We see how the job affects cops as opposed to how they affect their job. The New Centurions in this story are three new recruits. The story follows them from the police academy to the streets of L.A. in 1960, where they learn the hard realities about life on the street.
I found the prose a bit mundane about half way through the book, but that is how police work is most of the time...95% boring and the other 5% running around with your hair on fire. This story takes you to the dark side when one of the cops gets shot, and later, during the race riots.
If you want the real story on what lies behind the badge, this book is a must read.
On a personal note, Joseph Wambaugh was my inspiration, and has given me some personal advice for my own writing.
July 20, 2017
You can look at any of the recent news headlines and see that being a police officer is not an easy job. You are faced with some of the worst people, or some of the best people on their worst day. Either way, whilst many of us can go through life living in a happy bubble that is rarely impinged on, the police must face the dark regularly. Joseph Wambaugh was a police officer himself and whilst still working in the force he was secretly writing a new type of crime fiction novel that was grounded in truth. These were not books about a maverick PI, but tales about real police officers and what it was like to work on the streets.
‘The New Centurions’ was Wambaugh’s debut and is as close to a biographical report on 60s LA policing as you can get. Although fictional, the book has a sense of being based on the author’s own experiences, or those of officers he knew. We follow three cadets through their first few years on the force. These officers are not all idealists, but have joined the police for their own reasons be it for the money, or as a stepping stone to bigger things. What remains in common for Plebesly, Fehler and Duran is that the job can easily wear them down.
Having also recently read Don Winslow’s ‘The Force’ is was interesting to compare too books that look at police culture and the fact that corruption is just a given. However, whilst Winslow makes his hero unlikable with no redeeming features, Wambaugh is able to produce a rounded book that feels authentic. To some extent all three characters in ‘Centurions’ become corrupted, but mostly in the everyday free meal way that was apparently rife at the time. Wambaugh does not condone what happens, but merely writes it as fact. This gives the reader a real sense of the 1960s police – a little bit dodgy, a little bit sexist and a little bit racist, but the majority of them trying to their best.
Some parts of this book are difficult to read as it is a culture clash from today, but after 50 years it acts as a powerfully authentic voice from the era. As well as having a strong message about the LAPD, the book is also brilliantly written. The style choice makes the book feel more like a series of short stories than a whole – each trio of chapters covers one of the characters in a given year. You get stories that are funny, thrilling or depressing. You get to explore different areas of the LAPD as the protagonists are moved to different departments. Seeing how the Vice Department in particular worked is eye opening, both in what was considered a crime back then and how they went about openly entrapping people.
It is only the final chapter that brings all the threads together – the Watts Riots. This section alone is a must read as all the tensions of the public overspill. The police have to deal with it as they can, but with little organisation and backup, there is not a huge amount they can do. Plebesly, Fehler and Duran find themselves together again for the first time since leaving the academy and their night together will change them all. This is the type of ending which resounds in the reader’s head for days afterwards.
‘The New Centurions’ is not the easiest book to read at times and can be downright grim in places, but there is an earthiness to it that makes the book shine. It has the jarring perspective of the late 60s/early 70s, but this just adds to the authenticity of the book. Wambaugh’s first-hand knowledge of the police is clear to see on every page and we as the reader benefit from his experiences.
Sammy Recommendation
‘The New Centurions’ was Wambaugh’s debut and is as close to a biographical report on 60s LA policing as you can get. Although fictional, the book has a sense of being based on the author’s own experiences, or those of officers he knew. We follow three cadets through their first few years on the force. These officers are not all idealists, but have joined the police for their own reasons be it for the money, or as a stepping stone to bigger things. What remains in common for Plebesly, Fehler and Duran is that the job can easily wear them down.
Having also recently read Don Winslow’s ‘The Force’ is was interesting to compare too books that look at police culture and the fact that corruption is just a given. However, whilst Winslow makes his hero unlikable with no redeeming features, Wambaugh is able to produce a rounded book that feels authentic. To some extent all three characters in ‘Centurions’ become corrupted, but mostly in the everyday free meal way that was apparently rife at the time. Wambaugh does not condone what happens, but merely writes it as fact. This gives the reader a real sense of the 1960s police – a little bit dodgy, a little bit sexist and a little bit racist, but the majority of them trying to their best.
Some parts of this book are difficult to read as it is a culture clash from today, but after 50 years it acts as a powerfully authentic voice from the era. As well as having a strong message about the LAPD, the book is also brilliantly written. The style choice makes the book feel more like a series of short stories than a whole – each trio of chapters covers one of the characters in a given year. You get stories that are funny, thrilling or depressing. You get to explore different areas of the LAPD as the protagonists are moved to different departments. Seeing how the Vice Department in particular worked is eye opening, both in what was considered a crime back then and how they went about openly entrapping people.
It is only the final chapter that brings all the threads together – the Watts Riots. This section alone is a must read as all the tensions of the public overspill. The police have to deal with it as they can, but with little organisation and backup, there is not a huge amount they can do. Plebesly, Fehler and Duran find themselves together again for the first time since leaving the academy and their night together will change them all. This is the type of ending which resounds in the reader’s head for days afterwards.
‘The New Centurions’ is not the easiest book to read at times and can be downright grim in places, but there is an earthiness to it that makes the book shine. It has the jarring perspective of the late 60s/early 70s, but this just adds to the authenticity of the book. Wambaugh’s first-hand knowledge of the police is clear to see on every page and we as the reader benefit from his experiences.
Sammy Recommendation
August 28, 2025
Alternately blunt, brutal, honest, and hilarious, this novel follows the lives of three police officers from the day they entered the academy through the first several years of being cops.
This book is not for soy-based squishy readers. If you don’t want to hear people talking about crime and criminals that walk among us here in the real world, then you won’t like this fictional depiction either. If you don’t want to hear very frank opinions about race and sexuality, steer clear.
If you DO want a refreshingly blunt depiction of what it’s like in the mean streets while trying to succeed as a cop and a flawed human being, this is for you. So much of this book rings true and it was better this time around.
The story is told through episodic technique where we dip in and out of the lives of the three cops about once per year. I was surprised how much of this is relatable in 2025 as it was in 1970.
This is a masterpiece.
This book is not for soy-based squishy readers. If you don’t want to hear people talking about crime and criminals that walk among us here in the real world, then you won’t like this fictional depiction either. If you don’t want to hear very frank opinions about race and sexuality, steer clear.
If you DO want a refreshingly blunt depiction of what it’s like in the mean streets while trying to succeed as a cop and a flawed human being, this is for you. So much of this book rings true and it was better this time around.
The story is told through episodic technique where we dip in and out of the lives of the three cops about once per year. I was surprised how much of this is relatable in 2025 as it was in 1970.
This is a masterpiece.
April 26, 2011
This is the first book written by Joseph Wambaugh and it must count as one of the first of the "police procedurals" as we understand them today. Written by Wambaugh in the late 60's when he was a young policeman, it is free of any and all of the political correctness and tolerance taken for granted now by most of us; poor African Americans, Latinos, gay men, lesbian women are dangerous animals, criminal deviants and the game of the hunter, namely, the “paddy blue eyed motherfu….ers.” In Wambaugh’s eyes his three protagonists are vulnerable, well-intended soldiers just trying to survive the random terrors of police work and make retirement, set just before the Watts riots in Los Angeles. The book’s value lies more in its honest testimony about the cop life and less in plot and character development. It's worth reading for the tabula raza it presents before everything changed for better and for worse.
April 12, 2012
One of my favorite cop novels
February 14, 2018
Three young police officers can only watch as their lives are changed by the chilling realities of the job.
Published in 1970, this unflinching novel utilizes mesmerizing characters to grapple with a number of deeply rooted issues that are still hotly debated to this day.
Published in 1970, this unflinching novel utilizes mesmerizing characters to grapple with a number of deeply rooted issues that are still hotly debated to this day.
June 12, 2024
Wambaugh’s book will remind readers of a certain age (or of consummate taste) of old episodes of Dragnet or Adam-12, only with much more grit. It’s also clear the author himself had years of LAPD experience, as everything from Code 7s to the 1965 riots in Watts rings authentic. This should definitely be included in LA-centric reading lists.
August 13, 2020
Vita da poliziotti
Joseph Wambaugh conosce la materia di cui scrive: a partire dal 1960 ha fatto il poliziotto per una quindicina d'anni.
Decide di raccogliere la sua esperienza sul campo e metterla al servizio di romanzi polizieschi (diventati film) e serie tv - è l'ideatore di Sulle strade della California, una serie importante degli anni 70 in cui sono comparse decine e decine di 'star', da Sal Mineo a Stallone, passando per Louis Gossett Jr, Don Johnson, Kurt Russell... e così via.
I Nuovi centurioni è il suo esordio nella narrativa. Si tratta di una serie di episodi - più autobiografici che no - che vedono protagonisti 3 ragazzi dal 1960 al 1965. Li conosciamo prima insieme in Accademia, e poi separatamente smistati nei vari Distretti a contatto con la strada e con il mondo della criminalità più disparata.
Wambaugh ha uno stile semplice e per nulla roboante, molto adatto al taglio che dà alle vicende: tra le pagine porta la quotidianità e il realismo della vita da poliziotto, immerso nei fisiologici pro e contro della Società miope di quegli anni, in cui il razzismo spiccava in ogni aspetto - di quegli anni?! E dire che qui in Italia ultimamente abbiamo fatto un passo indietro di 100 anni -, indaga aspetti che generalmente vengono trascurati in nome dell'azione, e non ha la supponenza di voler colpire il lettore a tutti i costi semplicemente perché siamo in un poliziesco.
Capita questa chiave di lettura, quella del realismo non effettistico, il romanzo si trasforma in qualcosa di interessante e anche palpitante, soprattuto dopo la prima metà.
Joseph Wambaugh conosce la materia di cui scrive: a partire dal 1960 ha fatto il poliziotto per una quindicina d'anni.
Decide di raccogliere la sua esperienza sul campo e metterla al servizio di romanzi polizieschi (diventati film) e serie tv - è l'ideatore di Sulle strade della California, una serie importante degli anni 70 in cui sono comparse decine e decine di 'star', da Sal Mineo a Stallone, passando per Louis Gossett Jr, Don Johnson, Kurt Russell... e così via.
I Nuovi centurioni è il suo esordio nella narrativa. Si tratta di una serie di episodi - più autobiografici che no - che vedono protagonisti 3 ragazzi dal 1960 al 1965. Li conosciamo prima insieme in Accademia, e poi separatamente smistati nei vari Distretti a contatto con la strada e con il mondo della criminalità più disparata.
Wambaugh ha uno stile semplice e per nulla roboante, molto adatto al taglio che dà alle vicende: tra le pagine porta la quotidianità e il realismo della vita da poliziotto, immerso nei fisiologici pro e contro della Società miope di quegli anni, in cui il razzismo spiccava in ogni aspetto - di quegli anni?! E dire che qui in Italia ultimamente abbiamo fatto un passo indietro di 100 anni -, indaga aspetti che generalmente vengono trascurati in nome dell'azione, e non ha la supponenza di voler colpire il lettore a tutti i costi semplicemente perché siamo in un poliziesco.
Capita questa chiave di lettura, quella del realismo non effettistico, il romanzo si trasforma in qualcosa di interessante e anche palpitante, soprattuto dopo la prima metà.
February 8, 2014
Intense! That's my single word sum-up of this novel. Following three rookie L.A. police officers from 1960 through the Watts Riots, it is brutally honest about attitudes toward race. It also shines a light on L.A. neighborhoods that very few people, outside of those neighborhoods, know anything about. It's the small details that make this book so compelling, as the officers patrol the Hollenbeck, Central and Hollywood Divisions. Of great interest to me were the bits and pieces on Boyle Heights, one of L.A.'s most historically fascinating neighborhoods. Wambaugh was an L.A. police officer for fourteen years, starting in 1960, and his powers of observation are enviable. He is truthful and unapologetic, and compassionate at the same time. His ability to create sympathy for all sides, or if not sympathy, at least a glimmer of understanding, reveals a writer of exceptional talent.
January 21, 2011
Amazing that this is Wambaugh's first novel. Vivid and complex look at police life in LA in the early 60's; the novel tracks 3 new recruits and the hardships they face in 5 years on the force.
As with previous Wambaugh novels I've read, he writes some of the of the best black humored dialogue I've encountered.
An example from a scene where two vice cops discuss hookers at a local bar:
"Another thing, don't let old Dawn kiss you," giggled Ranatti. "She loves to snuggle around with guys she's hustling. Real affectionate whore, but she's got VD and TB."
"Runny at both ends," Simeone nodded, "All the time."
As with previous Wambaugh novels I've read, he writes some of the of the best black humored dialogue I've encountered.
An example from a scene where two vice cops discuss hookers at a local bar:
"Another thing, don't let old Dawn kiss you," giggled Ranatti. "She loves to snuggle around with guys she's hustling. Real affectionate whore, but she's got VD and TB."
"Runny at both ends," Simeone nodded, "All the time."
October 20, 2014
The New Centurions by Joseph Wambaugh (Dell Centurions 1970) (Fiction - Mystery). It is 1950. The master storyteller, the man who created the genre of "police procedurals," is here with a tale about the trainees in the ranks of New York City cops. They will learn everything they need to know to survive on the streets. This is the tale of their training. My rating; 7/10, finished 1986.
March 17, 2016
Intriguing premise, written by a former cop and all. But the language is way too dated, as is the racism and homophobia. I sort of gave up after the vice squad chapters. Some books hold up over time. This one did not.
January 8, 2021
From the beginning to the twist at the end, Wambaugh’s novel gives the readers a look at the lives of both rookie and veteran police officers from 1960-1965 Los Angeles. Since Joseph Wambaugh was a police officer and detective, he knows what he is talking about.
April 21, 2021
how am I gonna wash the persistent taste of boot out of my mouth after reading this
March 17, 2025
4.5 This is Wambaughs debut novel, paving the way for all the great novels to come. One of my favourite authors.
November 23, 2025
The New Centurions is pure street-level truth. No glamour, just cops grinding through the job with tired eyes and gallows humor. Straight talk, short sentences, and every page feels lived-in. Finished the book and will fire up the ’72 movie with George C. Scott tonight on Tubi.
December 12, 2022
Actually an excellent book about a group of Los Angeles police academy recruits in the early 1960’s and their lives over the next five years. Would be five stars but the racism is over whelming a understand it’s setting and the time it was written but still disquieting.
December 2, 2021
In the wake of George Floyd's murder at the hands of arresting police, I chose to read this influential semi autobiographical novel and account of 1960s era policing in Los Angeles. Told from the point of view of several rookie officers as they move through the first years of their careers, the story culminates in the Watts Riots of 1965. I've given it 3 stars not because I 'liked it' but because it was interesting and an important work in the development of the American public perception of policing and its purpose.
Wambaugh tells an interesting story that reveals just how boring much of the police work done by patrolling street cops was, and how blatant and all encompassing was the racism and casual misogyny and homophobia of the force as depicted by the author. Wambaugh himself perpetuates the cruel myth that homosexual = pedophile when he chooses to illustrate the efforts of vice officers trying to catch gay men engaging in sex (illegal at the time) and then chooses to have a gay character turn his attentions from a man he hopes to entice to a young boy who enters the washroom at an unfortunate moment. These sorts of depictions continue to fuel misunderstanding and fear even today.
There is a very clear 'us versus them' mindset and the story is as much about the rookies realising this and embracing it to varying degrees, as it is about anything else. The reader is meant to understand that the vast majority of LA police of the day viewed the poor African American population of LA as the enemy.
The experience of the officers during the complete chaos of the Watts Riots was very interesting, and it showed a total breakdown of policing due to the overwhelming events engulfing many LA neighbourhoods during those specific days.
The popularity of this book at the time is no doubt due to the no-holds-barred approach in relating events and the details of the personal lives of the officers, and in my view unfortunately ended on a sort of preachy gauzy we can all be friends and love each other note, with the exception of the not-a-surprise grim ending. Wambaugh may have struggled somewhat to bring his chosen main characters to realistic life as people but he had no trouble showing what they might have done and felt as police officers in Los Angeles at such a critical time in the history of the United States.
Wambaugh tells an interesting story that reveals just how boring much of the police work done by patrolling street cops was, and how blatant and all encompassing was the racism and casual misogyny and homophobia of the force as depicted by the author. Wambaugh himself perpetuates the cruel myth that homosexual = pedophile when he chooses to illustrate the efforts of vice officers trying to catch gay men engaging in sex (illegal at the time) and then chooses to have a gay character turn his attentions from a man he hopes to entice to a young boy who enters the washroom at an unfortunate moment. These sorts of depictions continue to fuel misunderstanding and fear even today.
There is a very clear 'us versus them' mindset and the story is as much about the rookies realising this and embracing it to varying degrees, as it is about anything else. The reader is meant to understand that the vast majority of LA police of the day viewed the poor African American population of LA as the enemy.
The experience of the officers during the complete chaos of the Watts Riots was very interesting, and it showed a total breakdown of policing due to the overwhelming events engulfing many LA neighbourhoods during those specific days.
The popularity of this book at the time is no doubt due to the no-holds-barred approach in relating events and the details of the personal lives of the officers, and in my view unfortunately ended on a sort of preachy gauzy we can all be friends and love each other note, with the exception of the not-a-surprise grim ending. Wambaugh may have struggled somewhat to bring his chosen main characters to realistic life as people but he had no trouble showing what they might have done and felt as police officers in Los Angeles at such a critical time in the history of the United States.
July 5, 2023
Maybe groundbreaking at the time, seems cliched now. This was apparently one of the leading "realistic" depictions of what it was like to join a police force, told by a police officer. There are some turbulent times shown here, including a race riot and police officers disgusted that there will no longer be "vice" laws (e.g., laws against homosexuality).
One of the police officers starts as a college boy with the heart of a social worker, thinking he is morally and intellectually superior to the other officers in his class. As you can imagine, he changes his mind. I thought the author was making pretty blunt political points with this character, and that he could have done it more gracefully (the character was such a jerk that the reader never sympathized with him, even in the beginning).
I kept thinking of American Sniper as I read this, since the characters seemed to share Chris Kyle's politics and his same philosophy of "the world is a dark place, and my unappreciated violence is the only thing keeping the lights on." The police in this book think they are the only ones who really understand human nature. It's not clear if the author agrees with them. The author does not comment on whether or not they are not self-aware enough to understand that they see the same people over and over, meaning they only see a small slice of humanity. Instead, the author seems to agree with the characters who say that they were lied to when their high school teachers told them people are generally good.
Interesting as an insight into the police worldview but please do not base your political philosophy around this book.
One of the police officers starts as a college boy with the heart of a social worker, thinking he is morally and intellectually superior to the other officers in his class. As you can imagine, he changes his mind. I thought the author was making pretty blunt political points with this character, and that he could have done it more gracefully (the character was such a jerk that the reader never sympathized with him, even in the beginning).
I kept thinking of American Sniper as I read this, since the characters seemed to share Chris Kyle's politics and his same philosophy of "the world is a dark place, and my unappreciated violence is the only thing keeping the lights on." The police in this book think they are the only ones who really understand human nature. It's not clear if the author agrees with them. The author does not comment on whether or not they are not self-aware enough to understand that they see the same people over and over, meaning they only see a small slice of humanity. Instead, the author seems to agree with the characters who say that they were lied to when their high school teachers told them people are generally good.
Interesting as an insight into the police worldview but please do not base your political philosophy around this book.
June 2, 2012
The New Centurions, was one of three full-length fictional works Wambaugh wrote while still working in law enforcement in the 1960s; it follows three young men through their police training and early years on the LAPD force, with their fifth year of service coinciding with the historic Watts (California) race riots of Summer, 1965. The novel, in which Wambaugh narrates almost equal parts promise, resignation, and tragedy, is a good example of police during a pervious era. The use of adult language and graphic crime situations (particularly in those scenes where officers work plainclothes vice details) allows Wambaugh to present a level of realism that is seldom achieved. It pictures day-to-day police work in a large U.S. city in the mid-20th century, an era when respect for diversity was sadly, sorely lacking but soon to become an essential part of police training. It was both an interesting and exciting read.
November 27, 2015
I first read this book in 1988 as a college student studying literature and journalism. I was quickly intrigued by the police lifestyle and the descriptions of daily challenges of living among the fearful, feared, and fearless. The transitions experienced by the characters were so realistic, I decided I needed similar life experiences to draw from if I wanted to be successful as a writer. After spending nearly 25-years in federal law enforcement, I've been filled with a cache of encounters and experiences with real people as vulnerable yet successful at survival as Wambaugh's. characters. I do not doubt his characters are a amalgamation of former co-workers and of himself. As a book, The New Centurions inspired me. As a writer, Joseph Wambaugh mentored me.
February 1, 2016
Joseph Wambaugh, a former cop turned author, is one of the fathers of the police procedural genre, or so the internets lead me to believe. This, his first novel, is set in L.A. in the 1960s, and follows three young cops from their police academy graduation up through the Watts riots in the mid-60s. It's a cool concept for a book, and there were interesting nuggets of police work scattered throughout.
It also feels really dated, particularly the conversations about race, where everyone (particularly the few black characters) refer to the problems and issues of "the negro" (oy). I'm giving it 2.5 stars and rounding up to ***, although the unbelievably corny ending is so terrible I'm tempted to bust it down a grade.
It also feels really dated, particularly the conversations about race, where everyone (particularly the few black characters) refer to the problems and issues of "the negro" (oy). I'm giving it 2.5 stars and rounding up to ***, although the unbelievably corny ending is so terrible I'm tempted to bust it down a grade.
November 15, 2020
Vita pubblica e privata di un gruppo di giovani poliziotti di Los Angeles dai tempi dell'Accademia di Polizia fino al loro definitivo inserimento professionale dopo i primi cinque anni di apprendistato. Il romanzo, scritto da un poliziotto, rappresenta un po' il seguito di "I ragazzi del coro" che è stato anche un film di successo degli anni '70 e descrive molto bene gli stati d'animo degli uomini in divisa blu durante i massacranti e spesso pericolosi turni di lavoro a contatto con le più disparate situazioni a rischio in una metropoli multietnica come Los Angeles, una polveriera sempre sul punto di deflagrare in violenza pubblica e privata. Un libro appassionante odierno come non mai.
July 11, 2013
This was a reread for me, first read about 40 years ago when it was published.
September 13, 2021
When researching how to write a crime thriller, I began to research well renowned novelists in the genre. Joseph Wambaugh caught my eye, and I thoroughly enjoyed The Choirboys. I picked up The New Centurions and sat on it for over a year. Eventually, the desire to research crime writing bit me anew, and I gave it a read.
I really do wish I'd read it sooner.
The New Centurions follows three officers--Gus Plebesly, Serge Duran, and Roy Fehler--over the course of five years. We first see them in the Los Angeles Police Academy and then follow them as they work a variety of assignments. Things culminate in an explosive conclusion that depicts the events of the 1965 Watts Riots from the perspectives of the three officers.
This was Wambaugh's first book, and it was a hell of a debut. From the onset, Wambaugh demonstrated that he knew how to craft a character. Additionally (and I feel this is a very important detail), he showed us the men and women behind the badge, unfiltered, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Were it one-sided either way, whether a song of praise or a scathing condemnation, I don't think it would have had as much of an impact.
The characters are so well-written and nuanced. One that immediately comes to mind is a side character named Kilvinsky, a veteran officer who takes the meek-mannered Gus under his wing and teaches him the philosophy behind effective policing. On the one hand, you read some of his societal attitudes and there is definitely prejudice behind them. On the other hand, Kilvinsky's style closer resembles community policing (though much of what he teaches Gus in the novel would be verboten in the here and now) than what was the norm for the time period.
As for the three main characters, I don't want to give too much away, but Wambaugh definitely puts Gus, Serge, and Roy through the wringer over the five-year period that the novel covers. These are all dynamic characters, shaped by the job. It's hard to pick a favorite protagonist. I didn't find myself skipping any sections or wondering when we were going to see another character return. They were all equally compelling.
The other thing I noticed was between societal attitudes and police procedures, there were many aspects that one who studies the modern subject would immediately recognize. That definitely gave me food for thought. While a lot has changed over the past fifty-one years, it is also evident that a lot hasn't changed, and that is good in some aspects and bad in others.
One review I read said that if one loved cops, they should read The New Centurions, and if they hated cops, they should also read it. I think this is sage advice. I highly recommend it.
I really do wish I'd read it sooner.
The New Centurions follows three officers--Gus Plebesly, Serge Duran, and Roy Fehler--over the course of five years. We first see them in the Los Angeles Police Academy and then follow them as they work a variety of assignments. Things culminate in an explosive conclusion that depicts the events of the 1965 Watts Riots from the perspectives of the three officers.
This was Wambaugh's first book, and it was a hell of a debut. From the onset, Wambaugh demonstrated that he knew how to craft a character. Additionally (and I feel this is a very important detail), he showed us the men and women behind the badge, unfiltered, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Were it one-sided either way, whether a song of praise or a scathing condemnation, I don't think it would have had as much of an impact.
The characters are so well-written and nuanced. One that immediately comes to mind is a side character named Kilvinsky, a veteran officer who takes the meek-mannered Gus under his wing and teaches him the philosophy behind effective policing. On the one hand, you read some of his societal attitudes and there is definitely prejudice behind them. On the other hand, Kilvinsky's style closer resembles community policing (though much of what he teaches Gus in the novel would be verboten in the here and now) than what was the norm for the time period.
As for the three main characters, I don't want to give too much away, but Wambaugh definitely puts Gus, Serge, and Roy through the wringer over the five-year period that the novel covers. These are all dynamic characters, shaped by the job. It's hard to pick a favorite protagonist. I didn't find myself skipping any sections or wondering when we were going to see another character return. They were all equally compelling.
The other thing I noticed was between societal attitudes and police procedures, there were many aspects that one who studies the modern subject would immediately recognize. That definitely gave me food for thought. While a lot has changed over the past fifty-one years, it is also evident that a lot hasn't changed, and that is good in some aspects and bad in others.
One review I read said that if one loved cops, they should read The New Centurions, and if they hated cops, they should also read it. I think this is sage advice. I highly recommend it.
December 27, 2023
Joseph Wambaugh's first book, no doubt with a solid dose of autobiography. The New Centurions follows three rookie cops from the academy to the L.A. streets over five years from 1960 (when the author joined the force) to 1965, culminating in the apocalypse of the Watts Riots. That unrest was more memorably followed by the summer of rage in 1967 and further riots in 1968. The reader gets some sense of the personal and professional growth of the three: Gus, who feels inadequate and afraid; Serge, who struggles with his ethnicity; and Roy, whose sense of superiority and intolerance will be tested. Their lives as police officers will try them, change them, batter and beat them, consume them. The job will eat away at them as they're trained by senior officers and see themselves 20 years in the future, good or bad. There's no real plot, more a lengthy series of intense "war" stories. This is not the usual sort of police procedural in which the reader follows the orderly actions of the cops in solving or addressing a specific crime or mystery (such as the 87th Precinct books), as here there's neither and the reader simply witnesses the day to day routine of the officers, not resolving a single crime but too many. The novel doesn't paint the police as good or bad, angels or devils, but a mixture of both, human. The story is heavily realistic, and many of the characters have serious problems with drinking. Everyday aspects of the job are illustrated, such as efforts at avoiding work, but at times even the mundane can be fraught. There's a heavy racial component presented bluntly and not too woke, but as a reality emphasizing that then as now race is an inescapable factor in our society, especially at that line where the police and people of color meet. The author doesn't shy away from complexity and as we know there's a lot of complexity in issues involving race and policing. The New Centurions addresses many social issues, well aware of it being a time of changing attitudes and the laws changing as a consequence. One small example being at the time there were "masquerading laws," which prohibited men from dressing as women. The book is set in the early 1960s; I would like to read something similar from 2020. [4★]
May 17, 2023
У ніжному 9-річному віці мені до рук потрапила книжка Джозефа Уембо "Нові центуріони", видана 1993 року київським видавництвом Ex Libris.
Тоді ця доросла виробнича драма про полісменів LAPD 1950-х мені щось не пішла - може і на краще, бо серед іншого автор розповідав зокрема про будні роботи місцевої "поліції нравів", ловлю на живця гомосексуалів, або про міжрасові стосунки напередодні всходження зорі Мартина Лютера Кінга.
Але через 20 років прочитати цей дебютний роман поліцейського, який дослужився за 15 років до сержанта, і роздавав перші свої автографи людям, на яких особисто перед тим одягнув кайданки, було досить цікаво.
Власне, цей роман не для сучасного світу тріумфуючої політкоректності. Уембо, особливо не стримуючи себе, розповідає про міжнаціональні стосунки лос-анджелеських євреїв, негрів, латиносів та anglos. Кульмінацією книги був опис придушення чорного бунту зсередини, від імені кожного з трьох головних героїв.
Зараз би такий текст небагато людей ризикнуло б видати...
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"Інші через задній хід і бічні двері кинулися врозтіч, і через кілька секунд в розграбованному магазині знаходилися вже тільки троє поліцейських та мародер, що стікав кров'ю.
- Ти відпусти мене,— божився поранений, звертаючись до негра.— Ми обидва чорні. Ти сам точнісінький як я. Такий самий.
- Ніякий я тобі не такий самий. Ти виродок, - відповів негр і підняв його однією рукою, виявляючи нереальну силу. - А таким, як ти, я зроду не бував".
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Ще цікаво було дивитись, як автор вчиться вирішувати тактичні задачі щодо донесення своєї думки читачеві.
Але окремою насолодою було читання викладу радянським ще ментально перекладачем американських жаргонізмів і реалій середини ХХ ст, у якого було набагато менше інструментів для роботи, аніж навіть у сучасного пересічного школяра. Лише освіта старої школи, паперовий словник, поради колег, друкарська машинка та своя голова.
Ця книжка 1971 року, а потім і фільм 1972-го, одразу зробила полісмена відомим письменником "темно-синіх" романів та нон-фікшенів. Цікаво, що дідусь живий і досі, 16-й свій роман випустив відносно нещодавно, у 2012-му.
Тоді ця доросла виробнича драма про полісменів LAPD 1950-х мені щось не пішла - може і на краще, бо серед іншого автор розповідав зокрема про будні роботи місцевої "поліції нравів", ловлю на живця гомосексуалів, або про міжрасові стосунки напередодні всходження зорі Мартина Лютера Кінга.
Але через 20 років прочитати цей дебютний роман поліцейського, який дослужився за 15 років до сержанта, і роздавав перші свої автографи людям, на яких особисто перед тим одягнув кайданки, було досить цікаво.
Власне, цей роман не для сучасного світу тріумфуючої політкоректності. Уембо, особливо не стримуючи себе, розповідає про міжнаціональні стосунки лос-анджелеських євреїв, негрів, латиносів та anglos. Кульмінацією книги був опис придушення чорного бунту зсередини, від імені кожного з трьох головних героїв.
Зараз би такий текст небагато людей ризикнуло б видати...
====
"Інші через задній хід і бічні двері кинулися врозтіч, і через кілька секунд в розграбованному магазині знаходилися вже тільки троє поліцейських та мародер, що стікав кров'ю.
- Ти відпусти мене,— божився поранений, звертаючись до негра.— Ми обидва чорні. Ти сам точнісінький як я. Такий самий.
- Ніякий я тобі не такий самий. Ти виродок, - відповів негр і підняв його однією рукою, виявляючи нереальну силу. - А таким, як ти, я зроду не бував".
====
Ще цікаво було дивитись, як автор вчиться вирішувати тактичні задачі щодо донесення своєї думки читачеві.
Але окремою насолодою було читання викладу радянським ще ментально перекладачем американських жаргонізмів і реалій середини ХХ ст, у якого було набагато менше інструментів для роботи, аніж навіть у сучасного пересічного школяра. Лише освіта старої школи, паперовий словник, поради колег, друкарська машинка та своя голова.
Ця книжка 1971 року, а потім і фільм 1972-го, одразу зробила полісмена відомим письменником "темно-синіх" романів та нон-фікшенів. Цікаво, що дідусь живий і досі, 16-й свій роман випустив відносно нещодавно, у 2012-му.
September 25, 2022
4.5 stars. Rounding up because I was so impressed with this novel, I have decided to read more by this incredible author. Wambaugh was a police officer and became a writer and thereby became a spokesman for the profession and a champion.
This book follows 3 characters, male police officers, in a 5 year journey in their careers and their private lives, from 1960 to 1965 in Los Angeles. In 1960, they graduate from the Police Academy. In 1965, they are on duty during the Watts Riots.
What I loved: this was NOT fiction--the characters are fictionalized, but seem like real men, with faults, weaknesses, fears, prejudices. The events truly happened, at one time or another, to someone that Wambaugh heard about or knew personally. There is no question that everything is true.
The blurb on the back of my father's falling-apart copy says it all: "If you Love Cops, this book is for you. If you Hate Cops, this book is for you."
I couldn't get over how timely this book, written in the early 1970's, is for 2022. The first chapter sucked me in as he describes similar events akin to George Floyd's murder by police officers and Rodney King's beating--and discusses, while NOT justifying, NOT saying these things are okay, but comments on WHY tragedies like these occur.
There is a discussion about racism here that is so incredible in its sensitivity that it made me wrap my arms around this writer.
I do not either hate or love cops--but this book was for me, because it increased my empathy for the profession in the same way Hill Street Blues did. I have had a minor run-in or two with power-hungry cops in my youth and I hated/feared them for a time...and I have also seen the nobility, dedication and kindness of police officers demonstrated to me at other times.
Highly recommend this book.
This book follows 3 characters, male police officers, in a 5 year journey in their careers and their private lives, from 1960 to 1965 in Los Angeles. In 1960, they graduate from the Police Academy. In 1965, they are on duty during the Watts Riots.
What I loved: this was NOT fiction--the characters are fictionalized, but seem like real men, with faults, weaknesses, fears, prejudices. The events truly happened, at one time or another, to someone that Wambaugh heard about or knew personally. There is no question that everything is true.
The blurb on the back of my father's falling-apart copy says it all: "If you Love Cops, this book is for you. If you Hate Cops, this book is for you."
I couldn't get over how timely this book, written in the early 1970's, is for 2022. The first chapter sucked me in as he describes similar events akin to George Floyd's murder by police officers and Rodney King's beating--and discusses, while NOT justifying, NOT saying these things are okay, but comments on WHY tragedies like these occur.
There is a discussion about racism here that is so incredible in its sensitivity that it made me wrap my arms around this writer.
I do not either hate or love cops--but this book was for me, because it increased my empathy for the profession in the same way Hill Street Blues did. I have had a minor run-in or two with power-hungry cops in my youth and I hated/feared them for a time...and I have also seen the nobility, dedication and kindness of police officers demonstrated to me at other times.
Highly recommend this book.
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