Talking Blues: The Story of the Police in Their Own Words [Paperback]

Roger Graef (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 8, 1990

A collection of interviews with over 500 police officers of every rank from all over Britain and Northern Ireland. The 1980s have changed policing, often out of recognition, and "Talking Blues" records these changes as they are perceived by the police.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; Revised edition (February 8, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006375251
• ISBN-13: 978-0006375258
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,816,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Police culture distilled empathically, April 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Talking Blues: Police in Their Own Words (Hardcover)

anyone familiar with this format of book will know roughly what to expect. graef has interviewed many many police-officers, both men and women, from many districts in the UK for his book. Those who are not familiar with this kind of interview collection have been missing out.

What makes 'Talking Blues' unusual is Graef's nose for the revealing statement. these are not just people's words slapped onto pages when lurid, they tell a distinct story taken as a whole. One feels able to sympathise with the thousands of officers that walk our streets and also advise on government policy. From drunks on a Saturday night to the riots of the eighties, the police become more than anonymous figures in blue suits.

'talking Blues' is by any account an interesting read, even casually. However, its power to add colour to any study of politics, organisational/management theory, or psychology is what makes it worth tracking down.