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Joseph Wambaugh
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The New Centurions Kindle Edition

by Joseph Wambaugh (Author), Michael Connelly (Foreword) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 out of 5 stars 970 ratings

Ex-cop turned #1 New York Times bestselling writer Joseph Wambaugh forged a new kind of literature with his great early police procedurals. Here in his classic debut novel, Wambaugh presents a stunning, raw, and unforgettable depiction of life behind the thin blue line.

In a class of new police recruits, Augustus Plebesly is fast and scared. Roy Fehler is full of ideals. And Serge Duran is an ex-marine running away from his Chicano childhood. In a few weeks they'll put on the blue uniform of the LAPD. In months they'll know how to interpret the mad babble of the car radio, smell danger, trap a drug dealer, hide a secret, and-most of all-live with the understanding that cops are different from everyone else. But for these men, these new centurions, time is an enemy. The year is 1960. The streets are burning with rage. And before they can grow old on this job, they'll have to fight for their lives...

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  1. Print length
    370 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Grand Central Publishing
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    April 1, 2008
  6. File size
    777 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joseph Wambaugh is the hard-hitting bestselling writer who conveys the passionate immediacy of a special world. He was a police officer with the LAPD for 14 years before retiring in 1974, during which time he published three bestselling novels. Over the course of his career, Wambaugh has been the author of more than 20 works of fiction and nonfiction, all written in his gritty, distinctive noir-ish style. He's won multiple Edgar Awards, and several of his books have been made into feature films and TV movies. He lives in California with his wife.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000SIR2W8
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grand Central Publishing
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 1, 2008
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 777 KB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 370 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0446539029
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 970 ratings

About the author

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Joseph Wambaugh

Joseph Wambaugh

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Joseph Wambaugh, a former LAPD detective sergeant, is the bestselling author of eighteen prior works of fiction and nonfiction, including The Choirboys and The Onion Field. Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times' said, "Joseph Wambaugh is one of those Los Angeles authors whose popular success always has overshadowed his importance as a writer. Wambaugh is an important writer not simply because he's ambitious and technically accomplished, but also because he 'owns' a critical slice of L.A.'s literary real estate: the Los Angeles Police Department -- not just its inner workings, but also its relationship to the city's political establishment and to its intricately enmeshed social classes. There is no other American metropolis whose civic history is so inextricably intertwined with the history of its police department. That alone would make Wambaugh's work significant, but the importance of his best fiction and nonfiction is amplified by his unequaled ability to capture the nuances of the LAPD's isolated and essentially Hobbesian tribal culture."

Understandably, then, Wambaugh, who lives in California, is known as the "cop-author" with emphasis on the former, since, according to him, most of his fantasies involve the arrest and prosecution of half of California's motorists. Wambaugh still prefers the company of police officers and interviews hundreds of them for story material. However, he is aghast that these days most of the young cops drink iced tea or light beer, both of which he finds exceedingly vile, causing him to obsessively fume with Hamlet that, 'The time is out of joint.' He expects to die in a road rage encounter. For more information please visit www.josephwambaugh.net or www.hollywoodmoon.com.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
970 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this book to be a good read with strong character identification and appreciate its portrayal of police work. The story quality receives positive feedback, with one customer noting how it details the lives of each character. While some customers consider it a classic, others find it dated. Several customers express disappointment, describing it as boring and not worth the effort.

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ReadabilityStory qualityPolice workWriterCharacter depthEraBoredom
30 customers mention "Readability"30 positive0 negative

Customers find the book to be a good read, with one customer noting it's a powerful novel.

"...Re-reading it just reinforced how great a novel it is (and unbelievably a first novel) and why it's a classic...." Read more

"...This is a great book and author, but skip this mass market printing." Read more

"...Nostalgia can, but worthwhile. D" Read more

"...Although Wambaugh has gone on to write many other fabulous books, The New Centurions will always be my favorite because it introduced me to the..." Read more

10 customers mention "Story quality"10 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the story quality of the book, with one review highlighting how it details the personal lives and challenges of each character, while another notes its revealing nature and emotional impact.

"...It made a strong impression on me, and made me a life-long Joseph Wambaugh fan...." Read more

"...The book details the lives of each, and deftly illustrates how police work affects them both personally and professionally...." Read more

"...Its not, its very real, very revealing...." Read more

"...It was good to travel down memory lane and Wambaugh was as good a story teller than as a young guy, as he has been with his most recent books...." Read more

8 customers mention "Police work"8 positive0 negative

Customers praise the book's portrayal of police work, describing it as one of the best police procedure novels, with one customer noting it provides a real look into the lives of police officers.

"I read this book in 1977. I just read it again. Wanna ugh captures the street cop and his world perfectly. Highly recomend." Read more

"...The New Centurions stands out as one of the best books ever written about police work...." Read more

"...It's still some of the most honest, insightful writing on police and crime I've ever had the pleasure to read...." Read more

"Not Joseph Wambach's best work but far better than most crime novelists...." Read more

8 customers mention "Writer"8 positive0 negative

Customers praise the author's writing style.

"...It's an incredibly well-written and deep novel...." Read more

"...This is a great book and author, but skip this mass market printing." Read more

"...over the years, because in my opinion, he started out as a great writer." Read more

"Wambaugh is a great writer. He dispays understanding of the human condition and the way cops, too, are human. A great read." Read more

5 customers mention "Character depth"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the character depth in the book, with several mentioning they identify with many of the characters, and one noting how the officers are humanized.

"...The officers here are humanized, with thoughts, doubts and fears that all people have ... And with human faults and frailties...." Read more

"...Although, by the end of the book, I was thoroughly involved with the characters and enjoyed it enough to give it 5 stars, I resisted and gave it..." Read more

"...move you, I have read this years ago, and can still identify with so many of the characters. A really good read." Read more

"...He did it because he worked asa cop and wrote as a cop. His characters feel real because he draws upon his experience with people...." Read more

9 customers mention "Era"5 positive4 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's era, with some finding it a classic while others consider it very dated.

"...who would now be outraged over the language used, but this is a snippet of history as it was at the time. Its well written, fast moving and honest...." Read more

"...Racial interaction in the US has changed so much that the book is philosophically outdated...." Read more

"I was surprised actually. The book dates from 1970 and offers a reflection of the attitudes and prejudices of the time...." Read more

"...this book as a young Police Officer it was great but now it seems old fashioned." Read more

6 customers mention "Boredom"0 positive6 negative

Customers find the book boring and not worth the effort.

"...The publisher reprinted this book in boldface black which is impossible to enjoy and highly distractible to a reader's eyes...." Read more

"...It was a gritty, sometimes boring, sometime explosive story, much like law enforcement then and now...." Read more

"...Waste of time and money to buy books printed by Amazon. THE REPLACEMENT COPY SENT BY AMAZON WAS AS BAD IF NOT WORSE...." Read more

"...text, very difficult and painful for my 60 something eyes, and not worth the effort...." Read more

Print maybe troublesome for some people
5 out of 5 stars
Print maybe troublesome for some people
As noted by another reviewer, the print is very dark and bold. But later towards the back of the book it’s normal. This is for the mass market paperback with the purple cover.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Barry Sparks
    5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful classic about police work
    Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2013
    Format: Mass Market PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I read this book more than 40 years ago when it was first published in 1970. It made a strong impression on me, and made me a life-long Joseph Wambaugh fan. Re-reading it just reinforced how great a novel it is (and unbelievably a first novel) and why it's a classic. Many times when you look back at an author's first novel, particularly after more than four decades, it pales in comparison to his later works. That's certainly not the case with The New Centurions. It's an incredibly well-written and deep novel.

    Wambaugh follows three LAPD recruits--Roy Fehler, Sergio Duran and Gus Plebsley from police academy in the early summer of 1960 through the end of the Watts riots in the summer of 1965. The three recruits go their separate ways after the police academy, but are reunited at the tail end of the Watts riots.

    Wambaugh, a 14-year veteran of the LAPD, pulls back the multi-layered veil of the police officer to reveal the doubts, fears, uncertainty and frustrations they experience on a daily basis. Being a LAPD cop is an "often thankless" job, and getting a daily dose of the worst of society takes its toll. Reality is often the opposite of what police officers and the public believe it to be.

    Here are some insights from the characters in The New Centurions:

    Veteran police officer Kilvinsky: "Police work is 100 percent common sense. That's about what makes a policeman, common sense and the ability to make a quick decision. You've got to cultivate those abilities or get out."

    Supervisor Milton: "This is a brutal business...if you learn something about yourself that you'd be better off not knowing, well, just slide along, it'll work out."

    Officer Plebsley: "All my life I believed what people told me was the truth, and I was a lousy policeman until I got over that mistake. Now I know they'll lie when the truth would help. They'll lie when their lives depend on the truth."

    From Wambaugh: "Policemen have a secret which seemed to unite them more closely than normal friendships and that was the knowledge that they knew things, basic things about strength and weakness, courage and pain, good and evil, especially good and evil."

    The New Centurions provides a realistic view of what it's like to be a member of the LAPD and how police duty changes men. It's a powerful novel.
    15 people found this helpful
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  • neilorie
    4.0 out of 5 stars Mandatory reading, or
    Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2020
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    it should be, especially in today's mixed up race relation issues, which are nothing compared to this 1970's novel. Some might be put off by it, but if one keeps reading to the end, that clears up considerably. Here is one quote:
    "the softness of the Anglo, the way you tell the world you’re sorry for feeding them, and the way you take away the Negro’s self-respect by giving everything to him, I’m starting to think that the Mexican should avoid the Anglo."
    To understand this comment, one need only look at the past, compare it, and stop trying to tear down historical land marks simply because one is offended. Erasing the past does not change history and if history is changed, aren't we doomed to repeat it?!
    9 people found this helpful
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  • wwrrmm1953
    5.0 out of 5 stars Captures police work well
    Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2025
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I read this book in 1977. I just read it again. Wanna ugh captures the street cop and his world perfectly. Highly recomend.
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  • Michael P
    3.0 out of 5 stars Terrible Boldface Printing of a Classic Crime Fiction Novel
    Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    This review is not of Joseph Wambaugh's seminal crime classic, but of the real crime committed on the printed pages. The publisher reprinted this book in boldface black which is impossible to enjoy and highly distractible to a reader's eyes.

    This is a great book and author, but skip this mass market printing.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Trumpwon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Print maybe troublesome for some people
    Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2025
    Verified Purchase
    As noted by another reviewer, the print is very dark and bold. But later towards the back of the book it’s normal. This is for the mass market paperback with the purple cover.
    Customer image
    Trumpwon
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Print maybe troublesome for some people

    Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2025
    As noted by another reviewer, the print is very dark and bold. But later towards the back of the book it’s normal. This is for the mass market paperback with the purple cover.
    Images in this review
    Customer imageCustomer image
    Helpful
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  • Paul martin
    4.0 out of 5 stars dated, but readable
    Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I remember this book sitting on my parents’ bookshelf when I was a child, and thought I should read it.

    Not bad, but 50 years later, the world has changed.

    Nostalgia can, but worthwhile.
    D
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Michael A. Black
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Novel Ever Written About Police Work
    Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2015
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    The first of Wambaugh's police novels that created an interest in policing and spawned many imitators, The New Centurions stands out as one of the best books ever written about police work. It spans an approximate five year period in the lives of three LAPD officers, taking them from their academy training to various assignments within the Department. The book details the lives of each, and deftly illustrates how police work affects them both personally and professionally. It culminates with the three of them being swept up in the Watts' riots. I doubt that there has ever been a better book written about police work. Wambaugh worked the mean streets as an LAPD copper himself, and was able to capture the essence of the job. I read this book when it first was published, and it influenced me to become a police officer. All these years later, the book's theme and lessons still hold true. Although Wambaugh has gone on to write many other fabulous books, The New Centurions will always be my favorite because it introduced me to the world of policing, and I later lived through many of the experiences that Wambaugh depicted. Whenever I reread passages of this novel, it never ceases to amaze me how he was able to convey the aspects of the job so effectively.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • C. Jacks
    5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular Masterpiece!
    Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2024
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Wow! I got interested in Joseph Wambaugh after watching an episode of CHiP’s that featured him. Wow, just wow. Couldn’t put it down.
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • William M. Dean
    5.0 out of 5 stars a classic
    Reviewed in Canada on December 12, 2023
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    As you would expect, expertly crafted and easy to read with authentic-feeling story and vivid characters. If you remember, or are just interested in the 70's, you'll instantly be transported there. It's also a bit of a relief to read a story without cell phones and internet.
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  • Watson03
    2.0 out of 5 stars センチュリオンをご存知ですか
    Reviewed in Japan on February 28, 2011
    Format: Mass Market PaperbackVerified Purchase
    　皆さん，センチュリオンをご存知ですか。ローマの時代のそれとは全く違います。知りたいと思われた方は是非ご一読を・・・（^o^）
    Report
  • David Whitehead
    5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 17, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    A literal masterpiece of police life from an author of distinction. Buy this book, you will not be disappointed .
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  • Kindle Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 1, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Good.
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  • David A Moncrieff
    4.0 out of 5 stars Great read
    Reviewed in Australia on October 29, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Recommended by a former LA cop. Down to earth writing style and based on first hand experience. Very enjoyable and well worth a read
    Report

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