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Book cover of The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice
United States History - Northeastern & Middle Atlantic Region, Law Enforcement, Legal Figures, Law Enforcers, & Criminals, Terrorism, United States History - 21st Century

The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice

by Bernard B. Kerik
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Overview

NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik's memoir The Lost Son had only just been completed when the horror of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers rocked New York and the nation on September 11th. This extraordinary memoir - by a man "universally recognized as one of the heroes of this story," in the words of ABC's Peter Jennings -- has now been updated to include a 60-page afterword and 16 pages of never-seen photographs covering the attack and its aftermath, and books will ship as planned, to be on sale November 13th. Readers will see and hear first-hand the tremendous heroism and sorrow of America's greatest tragedy through the eyes of a leader at "ground zero."

From the sagging row houses of Paterson, New Jersey to the cocaine fields of Columbia, from the razor wire of Rikers Island to the streets of New York City, Bernard Kerik has dedicated his life to a single goal: to fight the injustice he sees around him.

A jail warden with a black belt and a background in international security and anti-terrorism, Kerik took a substantial pay cut to become a beat cop on the streets of Times Square in 1986. A fearless narcotics detective, he went undercover to buy drugs in Harlem, seized millions of dollars of cocaine from the druglords of the Cali cartel, and was awarded the Police Department's Medal of Valor for saving the life of a fellow officer. In the 1990s, as the city's Commissioner of Correction, he ended the hellish violence at Rikers Island and transformed it into a model of its kind.

Today, as Kerik directs the largest municipal police force in the world, his battles continue. And yet Bernard Kerik's greatest battle was not pitched on tough city streets, but within himself. For even as he was driven to seek justice in every corner of the world, this extraordinary man never looked back until he reached the top. And when he did, he faced the greatest unsolved case of his life -- the tragic mystery of his own mother, who abandoned her young son forty-one years ago.

From the sagging row houses of Paterson, New Jersey to the cocaine fields of Columbia, from the razor wire of Rikers Island to the streets of New York City, Bernard Kerik has dedicated his life to a single goal: to fight the injustice he sees around him.

About the Author, Bernard B. Kerik

Bernard B. Kerik was appointed the 40th police commissioner of the City of New York by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani on August 21, 2000. Prior to his appointment, he served as commissioner of the Department of Correction. He served with the New York Police Department in both uniformed and plainclothes duty for eight years, and was awarded the prestigious Medal of Valor, among many other awards for meritorious and heroic service.

Before joining the NYPD, Kerik served as warden of the Passaic County jail, the largest county adult correctional facility in New Jersey. Kerik spent three years in the U.S. Army as an MP, assigned to Korea and to the 18th Airborne Corps, where he trained Special Forces personnel at the John F. Kennedy Unconventional Warfare Center in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

His memoir, The Lost Son received the Books for a Better Life Award in 2002.

Recently appointed chief of Homeland Security by President George W. Bush, he lives in New York City.

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From Barnes & Noble

New York City's "top cop," Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, manages the largest municipal police force in the world. As a former jail warden with a background in international security and antiterrorism, he's fought for justice all over the world. Now, he looks back at the most difficult -- and most personal -- unsolved case of all: the mystery of his own mother, who abandoned him 41 years ago.

Book Details

Published
June 1, 2002
Publisher
Thorndike Press
Pages
639
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780786241453

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