Duffin, a historian, writer, TV producer, and military veteran who teaches American history, documents the history of women in American law enforcement from 1845 to the present. He describes how women entered the profession in what was considered "women's work"--caring for female prisoners, helping runaway children and delinquents, and patrolling department stores and dance halls--to their rise, with the help of changes in federal law, to being about 13 percent of the police force. Using personal stories of both active and retire officers and newspaper articles as a basis, he addresses changes in social attitudes; the effects of events in women's history; challenges they faced; the tools and technology of the job, which were not originally provided to women; and problems like deaths on duty, relationships among coworkers, and women who didn't make the force. He focuses on municipal police forces, including highway patrol, sheriff's departments, and transit police and park patrol. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)