RaveThe Philadelphia InquirerHorace\'s book moves swiftly, interspersing personal experiences with interviews with cops on the beat; police commanders from New York, Chicago, and other cities; activists; public officials; and victims of police shootings. On occasion, the pace slows, most notably during Horace\'s chapters on police misconduct and efforts at police reform in Chicago. As he introduces his readers to the city, he recounts conversations with three drivers of the car-shares he uses to get around town. The subjects of those interviews are identified only by their first names, and—from my perspective—insights like theirs could have been expanded and amplified had Horace dedicated some additional time to finding Chicago residents to speak to him on the record, take him on walks around their neighborhoods, and invite him into their homes. That, however, is a minor misstep amid 209 pages of solid reporting and trenchant analysis that give Horace\'s readers a poignant understanding of how it feels to be both a black man and a black policeman. Reading The Black and the Blue will help all of us better understand the formidable challenges that big-city police officers confront every day—and how those challenges are exponentially more difficult when the police officer is a black man.
