Homicide
a year on the killing streets
by David Simon · first published 1991
68% recommend32% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Narrative nonfiction following a year embedded with the Baltimore homicide unit. Its grim, realistic view of police work shows how the drug war and poverty shape inner cities. Fans of The Wire will find it a fit.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The scene is Baltimore. Twice every three days another citizen is shot, stabbed or bludgeoned to death. At the centre of this hurricane of crime is the city's homicide unit, a small brotherhood of hard men who fight for whatever justice is possible in a deadly world. David Simon was the first reporter ever to gain unlimited access to a homicide unit, and his remarkable book is both a compelling account of casework and an investigation into out culture of violence.
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If you want to understand the impact that the 'war on drugs' has had on inner cities check out Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon (http://fave.co/1p8kUh6) - an amazing read, and it's the book that the TV series The Wire is based on as well. I agree that these prohibitionist policies…
on “Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug” ↗If you want a narrative portrayal of realistic death investigation in the US, read Homicide by David Simon.
on “An ex-cop's remorse” ↗…illustration of how institutions -- the police, the schools, the drug trade -- corrupt even the best of individuals. "The Wire" is heavily based off of the year that Simon embedded himself in the Baltimore homicide department...the book (which spawned a network TV show) is the best book about the practice of journalism I've ever read. After a year following the detectives, you'd think Simon would be pretty much…
on “Using Metadata to Find Paul Revere” ↗The best book I've read in the last 5 years is David Simon's, "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets"...if you've watched The Wire, half of its material is derived from this real life account of being embedded in Baltimore's homicide unit: https://books.google.com/books/about/Homicide.html?id=N8LS0b...…
on “Ask HN: Books with a high signal to noise ratio?” ↗If you've enjoyed The Wire, do read David Simon's books, it's outstanding work: - Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets - The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood
on “The Wire in HD (2014)” ↗…observed, but we also get used to a new presence, eventually consider them "one of us", and will resume (mostly) normal behavior. They're not technically academic works, but I consider David Simon's books "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets" and "The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood" (co-written with Edward Burns) to be in the category of such studies. The first book was the inspiration…
on “In Defense of Ethnography” ↗David Simon's "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets" http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18956.Homicide I wish it were required reading in at least all journalism school curriculums. It's a book about death and the most…
on “Ask HN: What are the most thought-provoking books that you have read?” ↗…term) was a Baltimore cop, and David Simon spent many, many hours hanging out on street corners with Baltimore corner boys, first convincing them he wasn't a cop, then getting them to talk to him. The Homicide book is an excellent start to his writing about Baltimore, and led to the series Homicide: Life on the Street, which paved the way for The Wire. Apart from the research, he has such a fantastic ear for…
on “‘The Wire’ – Game Day” ↗In the excellent true crime book, "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets", David Simon (future creator of The Wire), talks about the Miranda warning in the context of interrogations. When originally introduced, law enforcement bemoaned that…
on “It’s time for police to stop lying to suspects” ↗I recently finished reading Homicide by David Simon. It is a mind-blowingly good book. From that book I learned, yes, cops can lie to you. And when they're interrogating a suspect, they lie all the time.
on “Don't Talk to the Cops” ↗As I see a few Wire fans replying here, I'd like to recommend two related books that will give more insight and provoke some thought (if you haven't done so already): Homicide (a year on the killing streets), David Simon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide:_A_Year_on_the_Killing... The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, David Simon and Ed Burns http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corner:_A_Year_in_the_Life_...
on “What Do Real Thugs Think of The Wire?” ↗That reminds me of Rule 4 in the "Homicide Lexicon", in David Simon's fantastic non-fiction book, "Homicide", of the Baltimore homicide squad: "An innocent man left alone in an interrogation room will remain fully awake, rubbing his eyes, staring…
on “Web Activity Used in Court to Portray State of Mind” ↗…If you're interested, there are several excellent explorations of the particulars of Baltimore's problems (which are present, usually to a lesser extent, in many other cities) from David Simon: - Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (book) - Homicide: Life on the Streets (TV series) - The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood (book) - The Corner (TV miniseries) - The Wire…
on “Landlords are trying not to rent to startups in San Francisco” ↗I'm teaching a journalism class this fall in which I've made David Simon's "Homicide" a required book. It's a terrific book overall, but I chose it because of its examination of the system as a whole. But as you can imagine, a book that involves following the Baltimore homicide department…
on “University of Chicago: ‘We Do Not Support So-Called Trigger Warnings’” ↗I would definitely recommend his original book, "Homicide". I read it as a kid and it was eye-opening to see how even someone as open-minded/ hopeful(?) as Simon got ground down by the cycle of poverty.
on “Michael K. Williams Is More Than Omar from ‘The Wire’” ↗