Customer Reviews

My Father's Gun: One Family, Three Badges, One Hundred Years in the NYPD

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As another "cop's Kid" I wasn't sure I wanted to read this book. I put off buying it and then after buying it, I put off reading it because I was too afraid the author might actually succeed in portraying the Dualistic nature of Law Enforcement families: Passionate yet cold as ice, Caring and loyal but unable to reveal that to their own families, loving and yet painfully distant. Brian MacDonald captured all of this and it did break my heart at times to read this book but the reading of it was the cheapest Therapy I've ever paid for since by the end, I felt I had exorcised some of my own demons. However, don't let all this maudlin exposition fool you, this is a tight, very well-written and sparse memoir that succinctly encompasses three generations of "Mick Yorkies" or New York Policemen. As skilled as MacDonald is at presenting the details of how their involvement in the NYPD shaped the lives of his Grandfather, Father and Brother, he also shows with equal justice exactly how that Civil Service provided these Irish men with different social status from generation to generation. That he does so without resorting to the "Dirty Mick" cliches when discussing Tammany Hall is a remarkable accomplishment that most modern and rather Self-hating irishmen of our day cannot avoid in their haste to assert their own rising social status and to distance themselves from their Father's or Grandfather's hard choices after emigrating.

In addition to providing the reader with a whirlwind education in the history of the NYPD as well as the history of the Irish in the NYPD, Macdonald also does something quite mystical: He successfully evokes all those Irish Cop Archtypes we grew up with and gives them the weight of real names, true war stories and personal remembrance. At one point I noticed there were tears on my face when something he wrote caused me to vividly recall the smell of my Dad's gun belt and the crinkly sound of its leather as he slid it off and up unto a shelf in a locked closet each night. He also caused me to cry in the last few pages as he offers a faint but sincere apologia for the distance that Cop's keep from their own children when he relates a gut-wrenching incident from his own Brother's troubled relationship with his daughter.

All in all, this book is a love-letter I could never write to all the men, and there are many, in my own family that had to leave in the middle of family gatherings to handle some case and to the men who didn't tell us they loved us very often until after they retired because their upbringing and their career-path propelled them in a direction away from open expression of joy and robbed them of some of the contentment that they earned. If you're are a proud son or daughter of a Cop, you'll love this book. If you're an angry son or daughter of a Cop, this book might help you see into their world. That it was written by the son who didn't become a Cop makes it only more poignant since there is no locker-room pride in the Job to distract from the stark but hopeful memoir of the story of thousands of our childhoods.

I'd like to thank Brian MacDonald for this, his first book, and beg him to write some more about our peculiar social milieu. I really did think my family must have been the only one who self-segregated into associating only with other Cops' kids and such for a very long time. I also thought my family was the only one to be so two-faced about Law Enforcement where they revere it at all costs but beg their kids not to follow them into it as they had followed their dads. MY FATHER'S GUN gives an overdue voice to this perpetual struggle to live, love and survive within Law Enforcement. With a hankie in hand, I must admit I am glad I allowed myself to be drawn into this book far enough to finish it. If you are at all considering buying this book, do. You will not regret it.

As a member of NYPD, I have heard alot of talk on this book. also living in Rockland county,(also where the author lived) I can relate to differents points of interest in the book. I living a civil service family life, can compare the different aspects of "the job". My father being an officer of FDNY, me being the first cop. This books goes from the changes in the dept. through scandals and also working now shows what things havent changed. I highly recomend this book to anyone not just cops, it puts in perspective a cops life and what the family endures also. Once you start reading it is a hard book to stop reading, it isn't hard reading the book flows very smooth. I am not reader and for me to read a complete book is good.

The subtitle of McDonald's new nonfiction book says it all: "One Family, Three Badges, One Hundred Years in the NYPD."

But his family wasn't always a part of the book. At first, McDonald, a 45-year-old Manhattan writer, wanted to compose a traditional history of the NYPD with just a slight twist. "I wasn't going to do it about my family," he told APBnews.com. "I was going to do it about New York City policing being the last bastion of careers handed down over generations."

Then he went to an NYPD retirement party where a detective asked the crowd of about 150 how many of them were third-generation officers. About half raised their hands, and a whopping 15 said their police department heritage went back four generations.

"I knew I was on to something then," McDonald said, and he decided to turn to his own family as subject material.

At the time of his grandfather's service, corruption in the NYPD was epidemic. My Father's Gun is perhaps most vivid in its descriptions of an era at the turn of the century when many lawmen were criminals.

Devery, the crooked police captain who owned the city's baseball team, eventually was promoted to chief of police. His inspiring advice to his troops: "When ye're caught with the goods, don't say nothin'."

Brutality wasn't uncommon. Police Capt. Alexander "Clubber" Williams once put the law enforcement ethos into words: "There is more law at the end of the policeman's nightstick than in all the decisions of the Supreme Court."

"Little things like that give you some idea of what things were like," McDonald said. The NYPD "was unbelievably corrupt and incredibly colorful."

Anyone who ever wondered what it was like to be a cop in New York City should read this book. The author is steeped in police tradition -- his grandfather, father and brother all wore the badge. The book is particularly interesting because of the view it provides of life in New York over the past 100 years.

Brian McDonald's grandfather, son of Irish immigrants, joined the New York City police department in 1893. He was there during the height of Tammany Hall. He walked a beat as a patrolman and then rose quickly to seargent. He and his descendants each enjoyed the life of a copy and suffered because of bureaucracy, favoritism and the changing nature of the city.

In a way the story of these 3 generations is an excuse to tell the story of the NYC police department and the city it served. Though not a disciplined or complete history, this book quite effectively creates an anecdotal portrait that gives the reader a peek into a time and place not generally accessible.

In our era of "reality" TV and "cop shows" where both are driven by good writers and "bigger lie bigger buy" mentality comes this simply excellent book. What is striking throughout is McDonald's superb writing ability and diligent research. His ability to keep the reader interested on what is otherwise ordinary lives. His writing power is further distinguished by an absolute avoidance of cop cliche, which on a book like this is like going on an Easter egg hunt and telling the story of the journey...the people...the experience... without resorting to a redundant "and then I found this Easter egg."

Mostly, what I loved is the powerful taste of NYC through troubled times and good. The peoples experience of this fine city. Being a cop in the 70s. A cop under Tammany. A cop standing on the seam of this city as it is ripped apart under stress and sewn back together again. And the pure grit of cop families that never fall through and in the end the ones that mend the chasam again and again.

I was disappointed in the book. Unless you are interested in the political history of the area as it relates to the police department, you will probably be bored. It needed way more cop stories.

I read this book in one day. Brian hits all the points. I hadn't remembered the experience of sneaking into my dad's top dresser draw to lift his gun and being surprise by its weight, until I read the book's opening. My great great grandfather became a NYC Central Park cop upon arrival from Ireland in 1865. Since then, we always had at least one cop in the family until my father's death on St. Patrick's Day 1997.

My great grandfather responded to the General Slocum disaster; my grandfather (a Fordham Law graduate) was a detective who investigated Murder Inc. and other organized crime families; my father was the target of bricks during the 1960s, and I remember being terrified watching the Black Panthers calling for the execution of all cops; and one of my uncles battled the gangs in China town.

This book not only covers most of those events, it also made me remember police picnics and clam bakes, and hanging out as a kid watching my father play pool in the local saloon. Although my family moved "up the line" to northern Westchester, and not "across the river" to Rockland, my family's closest associations were with other cop families.

I have three brothers and three sisters. All seven of us have enjoyed this book.

Furthermore, as other reviewers have noted, this is a well written book.

I urge anyone who grew up in a cop family, as well as anyone looking for a great read to read this book.

I just finished this book and loved it. I am writing a novel about a policeman (we had two in our close family, and each was a tragic person). McDonald's respectful yet honest telling was easy to read and easy on the heart. It gave me a lot of ideas for my book, especially how to write about the subject with more objectivity.

It was also wonderful information about police work and the history of NY'S P.D. in general. How about a movie, a miniseries or even its own weekly show? Frankie's is a great story about a great guy. He is no doubt gratified to have a brother who is so gifted - and so proud of him.

Usually I stick to novels written by Tom Clancy or Stephen Hunter. However, after hearing Mr. McDonald on G. Gordon Liddy's radio program, I decided to order this book. IT WAS A WONDERFUL DECISION!!!! My Father's Gun gave a detailed look at NYC in the late 1800's - 1900's w/ cultural influences and societal evolution that basically has defined how we are today. Perhaps most of all, I see that the "good old days" weren't so "good" and that today things aren't as screwed up as people would have you think. I'm only 33 & without this book, I probably would never have learned about early NYC and America at the turn-of-the-century. This book details fascinating police stories and drama too; however, I feel that it's a gem in that it serves as a true historical documentation of the immigration movement of Irish, Jews, Germans, etc into NYC. You'll learn about the origins of the true cases upon which Hollywood productions such as Kojak, Serpico, and the Valachi Papers were based. It's an unromantic look at life in the big city, but it's a polished diamond of a book. God bless the author's family members who proudly wore the NYPD blue & for the guts they showed in protecting my grandparents who emigrated over from Poland and Russia at the turn of the century.

Usually I stick to novels written by Tom Clancy or Stephen Hunter. However, after hearing Mr. McDonald on G. Gordon Liddy's radio program, I decided to order this book. IT WAS A WONDERFUL DECISION!!!! My Father's Gun gave a detailed look at NYC in the late 1800's - 1900's w/ cultural influences and societal evolution that basically has defined how we are today. Perhaps most of all, I see that the "good old days" weren't so "good" and that today things aren't as screwed up as people would have you think. I'm only 33 & without this book, I probably would never have learned about early NYC and America at the turn-of-the-century. This book details fascinating police stories and drama too; however, I feel that it's a gem in that it serves as a true historical documentation of the immigration movement of Irish, Jews, Germans, etc into NYC. You'll learn about the origins of the true cases upon which Hollywood productions such as Kojak, Serpico, and the Valachi Papers were based. It's an unromantic look at life in the big city, but it's a polished diamond of a book. God bless the author's family members who proudly wore the NYPD blue & for the guts they showed in protecting my grandparents who emigrated over from Poland and Russia at the turn of the century.