Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. This is a tricky book to review and recommend, because I'm not sure who the right audience is. Wire superfans? Cultural critics? Grad students in film? As someone who has watched the series multiple times, I enjoyed learning more about behind-the-scenes aspects of casting and filming (the actor who plays the gentle character of the Deacon, Melvin Williams, was a real-life Baltimore drug kingpin? Whaaaaat?) It also explained how the format of the show (no set storyline, instead weaving together continuously to build up across the whole season) was part of why the show struggled when airing once-weekly on prime time, but had a burst of popularity once released to DVD/streaming and bingeing became possible.

At the same time, the strength of this book might also be its weakness: it reads more like a scholarly work or dissertation (which based on the book intro, maybe it was?) rather than something written for entertainment value.

It has a dry style and chapters on the show are interspersed with history on Baltimore and in the USA to provide cultural context for what was going on that shaped the city and what the show was trying to capture. For someone without a background in social policy, poverty, institutional racism etc this could be valuable to help them better understand the backdrop of the show.

However, for a casual viewer who thought The Wire was an awesome show this may be a lot more scholarly than they are looking for.

It took me a long time to come to ‘The Wire’ party – I think I was probably a bit young to appreciate it when it started. But now, having watched through it a few times, it is one of my favourite TV shows and I honestly believe that it gets better with every viewing and it was way ahead of its time.
So, the idea of a cultural history of ‘The Wire’ definitely drew me in as a way to greater understand the thought process behind such a brilliant show. I recall seeing an article ten years after the show had finished, where Simon talked about ‘pulling the cover off the city to show the American Dream was dead’.
Ben Lamb’s offering follows a similar hypothesis and, according to other reviews, doesn’t offer much that hasn’t been said before. But, to me, it was still a fascinating read – not just to look at how all the various organisations mirrored each other, but to learn about the contextual history of the city at that time and before.
Like ‘The Wire’, Lamb’s analysis takes the show season by season, and institution by institution and it was interesting to see how much of what happened in the show mirrored real life. It went a long way toward explaining why it pissed so many different people off at the various times throughout its run.
As the book went on, I was almost more intrigued by the real-life history than that of the show which, given how much of it is mirrored within the show just highlights the uber realism of what David Simon created.
If there’s one thing I would say about the overall presentation of the book, it’s that it reads a little bit dry, as if it was a PhD thesis that someone decided to turn into a book. I appreciate that it was a cultural history and that the author was clearly going to use critical theory to explore the many and varied aspects of the show, but it did serve to make the book feel overly academic at times.
Yes, ‘The Wire’ was tragic in so many ways. But it was also smart and humorous in so many ways, and I felt this book could have done with just a little more of that levity in telling its tale.

My thanks to Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, via NetGalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Wire is one of my favorite TV shows of all time and so when I saw this book, I knew I needed to read it. This was excellent. A really fascinating look into the show and what went into it. It’s been a while since I did a rewatch. This inspired me to start again.

This deeply descriptive and well researched book is a dream for both obsessive fans and scholars researching the effects of The Wire and it’s predecessors on culture.

I love The Wire, but there wasn't a lot of new information here. It was mostly regurgitation from other sources.

Pretty basic information and analysis, but Wire junkies like myself will still enjoy reading it, I just wish it was more comprehensive.

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley.

There are different types of shows. We don’t always need groundbreaking and thought provoking. There is a place for Law and Order. Yet there are few shows that seriously, consistently and in-depth address issues without preaching or being The Wire was one of those shows.
Ben Lamb’s Cultural History of the Wire looks at not only the development of the series but also the impact that the series had on various shows and the production staff as well.
If you haven’t seen the Wire, it details both the action of police, drug dealers, and addicts in Baltimore, with each season having a focus (schools, newspapers and so on). It introduced Idris Elba and Dominic West to American audiences.
Lamb starts his book with an introduction to the show, but then quickly moves to the Wire’s forerunners, allowing him to place the Wire in context of what came before, showing influences but also how the Wire pushed back. It isn’t just in terms of plot and character, but also in how the show was filmed. This focus on shooting style is also used in the following chapters, each of which details a season. This is particularly interesting in regard to the second season analysis. Additionally, his minute examination of how the sets is dressed in season four is fascinating.
But it is not just camera angles that get attention. Lamb also brings in theory, in particular as articulated by bell hooks. He applies it across all five seasons. It completely changed the way I looked at Bubbles. His use of analysis and criticism dealing with the development of Black boys in literature and media also stands out, in particular his drawing on the work of Claudine Raynaud. He has done more research than simply the media and technical side. He brings in real societal theory and history into his look at the seasons. His analysis of season five, in terms of populism, presents a different way to look at the final season of the show, the season that many fans consider to be the weakest.
Lamb includes information gleaned from interviews, but he is careful not to present everyone with rose colored glasses. Simon and his co-creators are presented warts and all. But people besides the cast, Ed Burns, and Simon get to shine. The book also details how working on the Wire influenced various actors and writers on the show to work to better Baltimore as well as their various rejections to BLM and other movements. There is also mention of the Wire being used in various courses. The book ends with a list of the best of episodes, which I am sure will cause debate.
If you enjoyed the Wire, this book will make you appreciate it even more. If you have never seen the Wire, this book will convince you to watch.

Great analysis and reflections on one of the best TV shows to ever be made. Really insightful!

(I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)