Martin Preib is an officer in the Chicago Police Departmenta beat cop whose first assignment as a rookie policeman was working on the wagon that picks up the dead. Inspired by Preibs daily life on the job, The Wagon and Other Stories from the City chronicles the outer and inner lives of both a Chicago cop and the city itself.
The book follows Preib as he transports body bags, forges an unlikely connection with his female partner, trains a younger officer, and finds himself among people long forgottenor rendered invisibleby the rest of society. Preib recounts how he navigates the tenuous labyrinths of race and class in the urban metropolis, such as a domestic disturbance call involving a gang member and his abused girlfriend or a run-in with a group of drunk yuppies. As he encounters the real and imagined geographies of Chicago, the city reveals itself to be not just a backdrop, but a central force in his narrative of life and death. Preibs accounts, all told in his breathtaking prose, come alive in ways that readers will long remember.
