Fort Apache

Book excerpt: Over thirty years after its publication, Fort Apache: New York's Most Violent Precinct remains the definitive account of the vicious cycle of violence that has gripped urban America over the past century. A swollen head floating down the Bronx River, a junke murdered for stealing a woman's wig, a French Connection-style chase through blind alleys. Police barricaded inside their precinct as a wild mob lays siege to the station--and, above all, mindless violence that seemed to erupt in profusion for no apparent reason against the cops who faithfully served and cared deeply about the neighborhood that was rapidly imploding.