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The Job: True Tales from the Life of a New York City Cop
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Published:
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group 2015
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description
“HOW YA DOIN’?”
With these four syllables, delivered in an unmistakably authentic New York accent, Steve Osborne has riveted thousands of people at the legendary storytelling venue The Moth (and many tens of thousands more via YouTube) with his hilarious, profane, and touching tales from his twenty years as an NYPD street cop. Steve Osborne is the real deal, people: the tough, streetwise New York cop of your dreams, one with a big, big heart. Kojak? NYPD Blue? Law & Order? Fuggedaboudem! The Job blows them out of the water.
     Steve Osborne has seen a thing or two in his years in the NYPD—some harmless, some definitely not. In “Stakeout,” Steve and his partner mistake a Manhattan dentist for an armed robbery suspect, and reduce the man to a puddle of snot and tears when questioning him. In “Mug Shot,” the mother of a suspected criminal makes a strange request and provides a sobering reminder of the humanity at stake in his profession. And in “Home,” the image of Steve’s family provides the adrenaline he needs to fight for his life when assaulted by two armed and violent crackheads. 
     From stories about his days as a rookie cop to the time spent patrolling in the Anti-Crime Unit—and his visceral, harrowing recollections of working during the weeks after 9/11—The Job: True Tales from the Life of a New York City Cop captures the humanity, the absurdity, and the dark humor of police work, as well as the bravery of those who do it. These stories will speak to those nostalgic for the New York City of the 1980s and ’90s, a bygone era when the city was a crazier, more dangerous (and possibly more interesting) place.
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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
04/21/2015
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780385539630
ASIN:
B00N6PD058
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Steve Osborne. (2015). The Job: True Tales from the Life of a New York City Cop. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Steve Osborne. 2015. The Job: True Tales From the Life of a New York City Cop. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Steve Osborne, The Job: True Tales From the Life of a New York City Cop. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2015.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Steve Osborne. The Job: True Tales From the Life of a New York City Cop. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2015.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Date Added:
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Date Updated:
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      • bioText: STEVE OSBORNE was a New York City police officer for twenty years, retiring in 2003 as a lieutenant and commanding officer of the Manhattan Gang Squad, with numerous citations for his police work. He has told his stories before packed audiences at The Moth storytelling venues across the United States. He has written for The New York Times and USA Today. Now a consultant for television and film productions, Osborne lives in upstate New York with his wife and their two dogs, Jingles and Duke.
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title
The Job
fullDescription
“HOW YA DOIN’?”
With these four syllables, delivered in an unmistakably authentic New York accent, Steve Osborne has riveted thousands of people at the legendary storytelling venue The Moth (and many tens of thousands more via YouTube) with his hilarious, profane, and touching tales from his twenty years as an NYPD street cop. Steve Osborne is the real deal, people: the tough, streetwise New York cop of your dreams, one with a big, big heart. Kojak? NYPD Blue? Law & Order? Fuggedaboudem! The Job blows them out of the water.
     Steve Osborne has seen a thing or two in his years in the NYPD—some harmless, some definitely not. In “Stakeout,” Steve and his partner mistake a Manhattan dentist for an armed robbery suspect, and reduce the man to a puddle of snot and tears when questioning him. In “Mug Shot,” the mother of a suspected criminal makes a strange request and provides a sobering reminder of the humanity at stake in his profession. And in “Home,” the image of Steve’s family provides the adrenaline he needs to fight for his life when assaulted by two armed and violent crackheads. 
     From stories about his days as a rookie cop to the time spent patrolling in the Anti-Crime Unit—and his visceral, harrowing recollections of working during the weeks after 9/11—The Job: True Tales from the Life of a New York City Cop captures the humanity, the absurdity, and the dark humor of police work, as well as the bravery of those who do it. These stories will speak to those nostalgic for the New York City of the 1980s and ’90s, a bygone era when the city was a crazier, more dangerous (and possibly more interesting) place.
reviews
      • premium: False
      • source: The New York Times Book Review
      • content: "Osborne has the macabre sense of humor people in adrenaline-jacked jobs often develop, as well as the yarn spinner's gift for building to the big reveal."
      • premium: False
      • source: Booklist, starred review
      • content: "Cops are innately good storytellers, and Osborne must be one of the best."
      • premium: False
      • source: Kirkus Reviews
      • content: "Tonally, he comes off as an avuncular, world-weary tough guy, embodying the "cops know best" attitude that many find alienating. Yet he elevates his perspective by displaying empathy for the civilians, victims and even criminals he has encountered, drawing complex lines between the "lost souls" and "evil motherfuckers" of the underworld... [T]hese punchy policing tales seem provocatively true to life."
      • premium: False
      • source: BookPage
      • content: "Not only was Osborne an excellent policeman (he retired as a lieutenant and the commanding officer of the Manhattan Gang Squad), he's a fabulous storyteller, crafting his memories into well-honed tales filled with drama, humor and heart."
      • premium: False
      • source: Edward Conlon, author of Blue Blood
      • content: "Steve Osborne is a born storyteller, and anyone expecting a cop book to be filled with action and adventure won't be disappointed with The Job. But what makes this story so powerful is its compassion and bittersweet comedy, the unexpected moments in which the worst situations bring out the best in people. Anyone who knows a cop--or wants to--should read this book."
      • premium: False
      • source: Brian McDonald, author of My Father's Gun: One Family. Three Badges. One Hundred Years in the NYPD
      • content: "Nobody tells a cop story better than a cop, and Osborne tells them as well as I've ever heard (and I've heard a lot of them). Go buy this book, for the chases, the laughs, and the poignancy. Go buy it now, especially now, because for every bad cop there are twenty heroic ones--and Steve Osborne was one of them."
      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        March 23, 2015
        In this engaging memoir, Osborne, a former NYPD lieutenant, shares the highs and lows of the two decades he spent tussling with the worst that the Big Apple had to offer. Raised in blue-collar Jersey City with a cop father, Osborne knew early on that he wanted
        to take down the bad guys some day. He chose to work graveyard shifts in bad neighborhoods, which provided him with thrills, good arrest stats, and stories worth telling, including an account of a run-in with a Wall Street rapist and a close encounter with a subway train. Osborne first presented much of this material via the Moth, a storytelling series, and because each Moth story is treated as a standalone, some jokes and phrases are repeated in the book. Yet the public origin of the stories surely helped Osborne develop the frank and intimate voice that suffuses his prose. At times, he comes across as a crusty cop with heart of gold, but his humor, sensitivity, and attention to detail transcend that stereotype. Osborne’s personal life is described only obliquely in the book, including his reasons for leaving the NYPD (although the chapter on 9/11 provides clues), but this is a solid insider’s account of what life is like on the force.

      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        February 1, 2015
        Raucous recollections from a career as a New York City cop, from a veteran of The Moth storytelling series.Osborne retired in 2003 as the commander of the Manhattan Gang Squad after 20 years of service, yet he seems more aligned with the street cop's earthy brotherhood than with the authority of command: "It's a good feeling knowing that you belong to a family [and] also the biggest and baddest gang in the city." Although his narrative approach is generalized rather than focused on concrete case histories, the author portrays a rough arc of the transformation of New York City from the decay and constant crime of the early 1980s to the historic crime reductions followed by the greater horror of 9/11 (at which he was present). In explaining his post-retirement interest in storytelling, he writes, for "twenty years my family and friends really didn't understand what I did for a living." The son of a tough cop himself, Osborne seemingly never considered any other life. Tonally, he comes off as an avuncular, world-weary tough guy, embodying the "cops know best" attitude that many find alienating. Yet he elevates his perspective by displaying empathy for the civilians, victims and even criminals he has encountered, drawing complex lines between the "lost souls" and "evil motherfuckers" of the underworld. The book has a light, episodic structure, with most chapters built around a less-understood aspect of policing (the weird dynamics of midnight tours or elite anti-crime units) or a dramatic street scene (a near riot in Washington Square Park). Osborne is often humorous, although some readers may find him frank to the point of cynicism: "People like to think cops are racists and only lock up minorities....After being a cop for a few years, you learn to dislike people equally." Despite their anecdotal nature, these punchy policing tales seem provocatively true to life.

        COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • premium: True
      • source: Booklist
      • content:

        Starred review from March 1, 2015
        Cops are innately good storytellers, and Osborne must be one of the best. He was an NYPD cop for 20 years, coming on the job when crack was king in the 1980s and retiring, two decades later in 2003, as the commanding officer of the Manhattan Gang Squad. The 14 riveting chapters here were shaped by Osborne's experience as a stand-up memoirist with the Moth Project ( True Tales Told Live ), in which people talk about their experiences in live events, on podcasts, or on the Moth Radio Hour. Osborne went the live route a few years ago, and the immediacy of live performance carries over into his writing. From his first account of witnessing a stabbing in broad daylight right in front of his patrol car in Washington Square Park, through his takes on drug dealers, stakeouts, pursuits, and a millionaire stockbroker accused of rape, who emerges from his loft apartment with a flak jacket and a gun, Osborne takes us inside what he was told as a recruit would be the greatest show on earth. The chapter on how he pursued a robber into a New York subway tunnel itself could win an award for most terrifying. Osborne laces his war stories with reflections on what the job does to copshow it makes them cynical and how it forces them to build a wall between themselves and their emotions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        June 29, 2015
        Osborne shares stories from his 20 years as a N.Y.C. police offer. Each one contains some measure of danger, hilarity, and ridiculousness, usually ending with a heart-warming message. Osborne’s pieces, which were largely adopted from his unscripted performances for the popular radio show the Moth, work quite well when narrated, especially with Osborne breathing life into them. He knows all the right places to put emphasis, pause, move quickly, and slow down. His deep and raspy voice pulls in listeners and keeps them engaged throughout the production. His thick N.Y.C. accent adds flavor and authenticity to the narration, enhancing it in a way that the book could never achieve. It’s hard to imagine that a professional narrator could do better. A Doubleday hardcover.

popularity
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shortDescription
“HOW YA DOIN’?”
With these four syllables, delivered in an unmistakably authentic New York accent, Steve Osborne has riveted thousands of people at the legendary storytelling venue The Moth (and many tens of thousands more via YouTube) with his hilarious, profane, and touching tales from his twenty years as an NYPD street cop. Steve Osborne is the real deal, people: the tough, streetwise New York cop of your dreams, one with a big, big heart. Kojak? NYPD Blue? Law & Order? Fuggedaboudem! The Job blows them out of the water.
     Steve Osborne has seen a thing or two in his years in the NYPD—some harmless, some definitely not. In “Stakeout,” Steve and his partner mistake a Manhattan dentist for an armed robbery suspect, and reduce the man to a puddle of snot and tears when questioning him. In “Mug Shot,” the mother of a suspected criminal makes a strange request and provides...
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