The Onion Field was published by Delacorte Press in 1973, Wambaugh’s first non-fiction book and arguably his finest work — a true-crime narrative that transcends its genre to become a study of institutional cruelty, psychological trauma, and the failure of the systems that are supposed to serve justice.
On March 9, 1963, LAPD officers Karl Hettinger and Ian Campbell were kidnapped at gunpoint by two small-time criminals, Gregory Powell and Jimmy Smith. They were driven to an onion field near Bakersfield, where Powell shot Campbell dead. Hettinger escaped by running through the dark fields, and his testimony convicted both men.
But the murder is only the beginning of the story. What follows — extending over a decade — is the systematic destruction of Karl Hettinger by the LAPD, the courts, and his own guilt. The department used him as an instructional example of what not to do (never surrender your weapon), humiliating him publicly. The courts, through endless appeals and retrials, forced him to relive the murder repeatedly. His guilt (for surviving when his partner did not) was untreated and unacknowledged. He began stealing compulsively — small, meaningless thefts — and his career and marriage deteriorated.
Wambaugh’s argument is that the system — police department, courts, society — inflicted more damage on Hettinger than Powell and Smith did. The criminals took his partner; the institution took his identity.
Collecting The Onion Field
First edition (Delacorte Press, New York, 1973): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition in dust jacket: $25–$60
- Signed first edition: $50–$120
- Without jacket: $8–$15