THE PROTECTORS

A Photographic History of Police Departments in the United States

James A. Bultema, P. D. Publishing, Hardcover $39.95 (320pp), 978-0-9974251-0-9

Law and order, peace and prosperity, these are key elements of that fragile thing called civilization. Here in the US of A, few among us have experienced anything but, and most of the heavy lifting of a functioning society is borne by cops. Raise your glasses, please.

Strikingly, organized law enforcement arrived in the States on the streets of New York City (1845) within the same decade as the daguerreotype process of photography was invented (1839), and the earliest photos in this collection of three hundred are mesmerizing. The accompanying captions and text provide all the needed context, as well as an unexpectedly high level of entertainment.