POLICEMEN AROUND THE WORLD

by Richard Erdoes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 26, 1968

In the days when ""foreign lands"" were ""picturesque,"" this full-color, heavy stock portfolio of scenes one per time or place might have served for innocent amusement; no matter that the medieval night watchman looks like a court jester, that the Cossacks don't qualify for inclusion, that the two-humped Bactrian camel is transported to the Arabian peninsula, that he doesn't run wild even at home. (""Policemen ride on the one-hump dromedary, while two-hump camels roam wild over the desert sands."") Minor (?) inaccuracies aside, there's still the problem of boy-policemen in Mexico--who are Saturday volunteers under supervision rather than the full-fledged (and frocked) officers they appear to be here. Moreover and most important, the cops are all caricatured (e.g. every Indian with a fierce mustache) and so are the people (e.g. every aborigine with rickrack body paint), which doesn't say much for law-and-order, doesn't do much for international understanding. Arresting to look at but no conviction.

Pub Date: June 26, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION