New Yorks Finest, Michael Daly
New Yorks Finest, Michael Daly
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
Club: $15.99

New York's Finest
Stories of the NYPD and the Hero Cops Who Saved the City

Author: Michael Daly

Narrator: Michael Daly, P.J. Ochlan

Unabridged: 14 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Twelve

Published: 12/07/2021

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

The gritty, true blue story of two remarkable cops and an equally extraordinary nurse who provided the spirit and smarts that transformed Fear City into the safest big city in America.

NEW YORK'S FINEST is the story of a city's transformation through the tireless efforts of Detective Steven McDonald, Nurse Justiniano, Jack Maple, and a host of hero cops—including the great niece of Jazz Age great Josephine Baker—the finest of The Finest.

The son and grandson of cops, Officer McDonald was shot and paralyzed from the neck down while on patrol in 1986. The doctors said that if he did survive, he would be better off dead. It was then he came under the care of one Nurse Nina Justiniano. Where the teenage gunman was produced by the worst of Harlem's social ills, she personified its many graces, rescuing Steven from despair and urging him to transcend hate and bitterness.

McDonald was then promoted to detective at the urging of NYPD Deputy Commissioner Jack Maple, a postal worker's son who sported a bow tie, Homburg hat, and two-tone shoes as he implemented transformative crime-fighting strategies to deter violent subway robberies. Coming up in the force, Maple had been routinely mocked for imagining the impossible: that Times Square would one day be a destination for families and tourists.

Now, resentments and tensions are mounting in the same neighborhoods that most benefited from the careful consideration of officers like McDonald and Maple. But as NEW YORK'S FINEST illustrates, their legacies, and those of people like Nurse Justiniano, may well rescue New York City from its present state of unrest and struggle in the wake of protests and the pandemic.

About Michael Daly

Michael Daly is a special correspondent with the Daily Beast. He was previously a columnist with the New York Daily News and a staff writer with New York Magazine. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2002 and has received numerous awards.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Angie on February 21, 2022

This book wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t quite what I expected. I thought that the majority of the book would be about the day to day lives of New York City police officers offering insight into this very unique profession. The story mainly focused on two police officers, and the first 1/4-1/2 of the bo......more

Goodreads review by Jan on December 13, 2022

It's not just a history of late 20th Century NYPD triumphs and tribulations. It's a reminder to all of us who know the value of good policing in this era of assassinations of police, publicity about the worst enemy of police everywhere--bad cops, and the movement to defund the police. It's also a mo......more

Goodreads review by Susan on February 07, 2024

A true story of two cops and a very special nurse who changed New York into the safest, biggest city in the USA. It is inspiring and heartbreaking. It is a behind the scenes look at figures (key) in the New York Police Department from the 1970s to 2021. It gives the reader a look at the police’s per......more

Goodreads review by patrick on November 08, 2022

The book was different than what I thought it was going to be, the first part of the book talks about Stephen MacDonald and then moves on to Jack Mapel. The stories of the people around them that work with them in their recovery are also amazing as well as what they did afterward. I really thought i......more

Goodreads review by CASPER on April 21, 2022

Mr. Daly tells the tale of everyday people doing the best that they could in desperate times. This is the quintessential American story. Common people fix the problems generated by a series of bad ideas. Crime is rampant, money is short, and chaos reigns.......more


Quotes

"NEW YORK'S FINEST is so gripping, it made my heart race. I was only able to read a few chapters a night or I couldn't sleep. The way it penetrates to the heart of these NYPD families, this calling (there is no other word) is so moving and vivid it has changed forever my perception of the police. It manages all at once to be thrilling, heartbreaking, inspiring, and exhilarating. It is Michael Daly’s tour de force."—Tina Brown, New York Times bestselling author of THE VANITY FAIR DIARIES

"Michael Daly is one of the finest street reporters New York has ever known. The power of his writing derives in part from both his instinctual humanism and his ability to capture the nuances of his people with novelistic aplomb. And when, as in NEW YORK'S FINEST, he writes about those he has deeply admired (if not downright loved), such as Jack Maple and Father Mychal Judge, Michael Daly is at his shining best."—Richard Price, New York Times bestselling author of THE WHITES

"Michael Daly’s NEW YORK'S FINEST is the story of the policemen and -women who transformed New York from 'Fear City' into the safest big city in America. There have been plenty of books and articles that missed this story. Michael Daly did not."—Nicholas Pileggi, author, producer and screenwriter

"NEW YORK'S FINEST is a peek behind the borders of a Blue Nation that is kicked around like a football from one politician to the next. These are the voices of the unseen and unheralded: the legendary Jack Maple whose honesty and ingenuity made New York City safe, the angelic Steve McDonald whose kindness inspired thousands, and the diminutive Vertel Martin, whose courage is a testament to Americans everywhere. They are among the finest that New York has ever produced, and Daly has shared them with us."—James McBride, New York Times bestselling author of DEACON KING KONG