Law & Order: A Cultural History

(Hardback)

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A comprehensive, yet entertaining, examination of the Law & Order juggernaut.

Over the course of more than 20 years, nearly 500 episodes, and six spinoffs, Law & Order changed the way we view police procedurals, the American justice system, and the men and women of the NYPD. The ubiquity of the showfrom its iconic dun-dun sound to its all-star cast of characters and A-list guest starshas not only made it part of the pop culture zeitgeist but has made society smarter about laws and policing in the United States.

In the first-ever book of its kind, author and pop-culture critic Bernadette Giacomazzo celebrates the show and its creator, Dick Wolf, while providing a conscientious examination of the stories of the criminal justice system and the two separate, yet equally important groups that represent the people. Law & Order: A Cultural History follows the series origins from its old New York grit and grime to the twenty-first-century high-tech surveillance in a more sterile Manhattan, highlighting how United States law has evolved and the show along with it and exploring Americas fascination with the show that helped give birth to the true crime genre.

Law & Order is more than just a police procedural: It is one of the few shows that effectively tackles the social, political, and economic issues that lead to crime. Moreso than its predecessors such as Dragnet and Hill Street Blues, Law & Order gives a first-hand, inside look at the police who investigate crimes and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. In so doing, it removes their mystique and gives them a humanity not seen before. This book finally gives the show and its creator the recognition they deserve for their role in changing the face of both law and orderand true crime television.

Reviews

A fascinating look at how a beloved television show interweaves fact and fiction to tell stories that illuminate our lives and our culture and has changed the way we look at the legal system in the United States. -- Nicole Evelina, USA Today bestselling author
Driven by commonplace and conservative narrative formulas, the police procedural has been a constitutive, and highly popular, genre of fictional television programming from the outset. Its not prestige TVits quintessentially TV, one might quip, suggesting why police series have garnered rather little scholarly attention. With her spirited examination of the Law & Order franchise, Bernadette Giacomazzo throws light on a notoriously neglected backstreet area of television studies. In a knowledgeable yet accessible style, she investigates the series origins, properties, and spin-offs. Anyone who is fond of crime shows, as well as those interested in questions of social realism regarding the professional world of law and order vis--vis its portrayals on TV, should check out this book. -- Moritz Fink, author of The Simpsons: A Cultural History

Author Bio

Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, photographer, and author who is currently the nights & weekends reporter at HipHopDX and the senior news writer at Daily Express. Her work has been featured in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and many more. Giacomazzo was also the executive editor of LatinTRENDS Magazine and the Eye Candy editor of XXL Magazine. In addition to releasing her poetry chapbook, Aquarius Rising, with Nightingale & Sparrow Press, Giacomazzo also released In Living Color: A Cultural History (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023) and The Golden Girls: A Cultural History (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023). Based in New York City, Giacomazzo has also worked on various film and television projects and is the author of the critically acclaimed dystopian fiction books, The Uprising Series.