The Last Neighborhood Cops

"Beyond this book's powerful implications for contemporary policing, it's must reading for those interested in the larger social, cultural and economic history of Gotham since World War II. Sophisticated, skillful, and myth-toppling scholarship."

- Mike Wallace (co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gotham)

"Ask Americans for a symbol of crime and failed policy and they'll likely name the 'projects.' Umbach inverts conventional wisdom, skillfully taking us where few tread-we are better for it."

- Sudhir Venkatesh (author of Gang Leader for a Day)

"Based on careful archival research into the New York City Housing Authority police department archives and interviews with both former officers and residents, Umbach's book provides a bottom-up view of residents' interactions with police. A welcome correction that engages many topics."

(American Historical Review)

"...a nuanced and compelling history of the importance of policing, both formal and informal, in creating social order in New York City projets."

(The Journal of American History)