Joseph Wambaugh, The New Centurions

Cecilia Donohue (Independent Scholar - North America)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1971

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

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Having served as a police officer in the Los Angeles, California (USA) Police Department (LAPD), novelist Joseph Wambaugh was in an exceptional position to present to readers a gritty, realistic portrayal of police officers’ lives on and off the job. His first novel,

The New Centurions (

1971), was one of three full-length fictional works Wambaugh wrote while still working in law enforcement; 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. Their reunion during this event comprises the final chapter of the novel, in which Wambaugh serves up a resolution of equal parts promise, resignation, and tragedy. Peppered with adult language and…

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690 words

Citation: Donohue, Cecilia. "The New Centurions". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 May 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34629, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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Joseph Wambaugh, The New Centurions

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